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> users that will likely never sign up to X, but who want to read/watch some content They probably don't want their echo chamber leaking to the wider internet,

by swed420 2mo ago

> users that will likely never sign up to X, but who want to read/watch some content They probably don't want their echo chamber leaking to the wider internet, because external discussion of the content would reveal it for the siloed thought bubble that it is. Consider X now requires personal information to sign up, and after handing that info over, signups are often still rejected with no explanation given. Yet another tell they're very interested in maintaining that echo chamber.

deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
asveikau 2mo ago
> signups are often still rejected with no explanation given That's pretty odd. When I google this, there are claims that this is to prevent spam accounts. Obviously, if you choose not to take them at their word, one can read all sorts of odd reasons into it.
- swed420 2mo ago
  That exchange might be believable if bots didn't exist on X, but they absolutely do, hence the search for other explanations. Considering who owns it, it'd be weird if they didn't want a carefully curated echo chamber of sanitized thought.
  - asveikau 2mo ago
    To be clear I agree that another reason is pretty likely. I'm just phrasing it neutrally since I don't know.. Above all I'm saying it's weird. I'm used to thinking of twitter and all the others in the same category as wanting to drive user metrics up at the expense of a lot of other priorities. Preventing new accounts seems to run counter to expectations.
abletonlive 2mo ago
HN and Reddit are much more of an echo chamber than X is.
nailer 2mo ago
'Echo chamber' is an odd thing to say. X has many center left and hard left accounts, they're not banned in the same "women can't be men" was during Woke 1.0.
- qlte 2mo ago
  ...really? Elon Musk declares ‘cis’ and ‘cisgender’ will be considered slurs on Twitter that can be punishable with suspension https://fortune.com/2023/06/21/elon-musk-declares-cis-cisgender-slurs-twitter-punishable-suspension/ https://fortune.com/2023/06/21/elon-musk-declares-cis-cisgen...
  - includenotfound 2mo ago
    https://x.com/search?q=cisgender&src=typed_query&f=live https://x.com/search?q=cisgender&src=typed_query&f=live There are tons and tons of people using the term. All the time. Last result was 11 seconds ago (as of posting this).
    - mitxela 2mo ago
      Their tweets are shadowbanned and you only found them because you searched for the slur. All other avenues of discovery are prevented.
      - includenotfound 2mo ago
        Where did you get that from? I've seen this word multiple times on the feed over the years, too.
  - nailer 2mo ago
    Direct link: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/167137028410281984 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/167137028410281984 Slurs aren't allowed on most platforms.
    - SmirkingRevenge 2mo ago
olalonde 2mo ago
FWIW, X is far less of an echo chamber than Bluesky, Truth Social or Reddit. They're simply doing this to boost engagement and break scrapers.
- otherme123 2mo ago
  I quit Twitter because a lot of the people I followed also quit so the site lost relevance/interest, but mainly because those who stay were turning slowly but steadily into something the network was clearly pushing. The force pushing of Elon twits into my timeline was too obvious, and once noticed that I noticed other less obvious pushes and even more insidious, silencing people I was interested in reading but suddenly their twits no longer pop in my timeline. I needed to go to their profile to read their twits. In short, Twitter was actively pushing me into an echo chamber, even when my follows were diverse. Bluesky, Truth Social or Reddit are users that usually want to be in that echo chamber. At least bans are very notorious there, and not shadowbans/algorithm silencing while Elon says "I am a free speech absolutist".
- mitxela 2mo ago
  > X is far less of an echo chamber [citation needed] - an echo chamber you agree with is still an echo chamber.
  - olalonde 2mo ago
    X: "Before Musk acquired it, Twitter’s users were more liberal; now it’s about even on X" https://www.techpolicy.press/what-are-the-politics-of-a-platform-the-case-of-x/ https://www.techpolicy.press/what-are-the-politics-of-a-plat... Bluesky: "8% of the links were to right-leaning websites" https://labhorizons.co.uk/2025/02/new-study-highlights-blueskys-political-leanings-and-rapid-user-growth/ https://labhorizons.co.uk/2025/02/new-study-highlights-blues... Reddit: "There is a strong Pro-Left/Anti-Right bias to the top 100 posts of Reddit with 112x more posts (99.1%) favoring the American Left Wing compared to the Right" https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/reddits-american-political-left-wing-bias-a-study-of-the-top-100-posts-from-september-12-21-2024/ https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/reddi... TruthSocial: do I really need to pull that up?

by swed420 2mo ago

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

asveikau 2mo ago

> signups are often still rejected with no explanation given That's pretty odd. When I google this, there are claims that this is to prevent spam accounts. Obviously, if you choose not to take them at their word, one can read all sorts of odd reasons into it.

swed420 2mo ago
That exchange might be believable if bots didn't exist on X, but they absolutely do, hence the search for other explanations. Considering who owns it, it'd be weird if they didn't want a carefully curated echo chamber of sanitized thought.
- asveikau 2mo ago
  To be clear I agree that another reason is pretty likely. I'm just phrasing it neutrally since I don't know.. Above all I'm saying it's weird. I'm used to thinking of twitter and all the others in the same category as wanting to drive user metrics up at the expense of a lot of other priorities. Preventing new accounts seems to run counter to expectations.

abletonlive 2mo ago

HN and Reddit are much more of an echo chamber than X is.

nailer 2mo ago

'Echo chamber' is an odd thing to say. X has many center left and hard left accounts, they're not banned in the same "women can't be men" was during Woke 1.0.

qlte 2mo ago
...really? Elon Musk declares ‘cis’ and ‘cisgender’ will be considered slurs on Twitter that can be punishable with suspension https://fortune.com/2023/06/21/elon-musk-declares-cis-cisgender-slurs-twitter-punishable-suspension/ https://fortune.com/2023/06/21/elon-musk-declares-cis-cisgen...
- includenotfound 2mo ago
  https://x.com/search?q=cisgender&src=typed_query&f=live https://x.com/search?q=cisgender&src=typed_query&f=live There are tons and tons of people using the term. All the time. Last result was 11 seconds ago (as of posting this).
  - mitxela 2mo ago
    Their tweets are shadowbanned and you only found them because you searched for the slur. All other avenues of discovery are prevented.
    - includenotfound 2mo ago
      Where did you get that from? I've seen this word multiple times on the feed over the years, too.
- nailer 2mo ago
  Direct link: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/167137028410281984 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/167137028410281984 Slurs aren't allowed on most platforms.
  - SmirkingRevenge 2mo ago

olalonde 2mo ago

FWIW, X is far less of an echo chamber than Bluesky, Truth Social or Reddit. They're simply doing this to boost engagement and break scrapers.

otherme123 2mo ago
I quit Twitter because a lot of the people I followed also quit so the site lost relevance/interest, but mainly because those who stay were turning slowly but steadily into something the network was clearly pushing. The force pushing of Elon twits into my timeline was too obvious, and once noticed that I noticed other less obvious pushes and even more insidious, silencing people I was interested in reading but suddenly their twits no longer pop in my timeline. I needed to go to their profile to read their twits. In short, Twitter was actively pushing me into an echo chamber, even when my follows were diverse. Bluesky, Truth Social or Reddit are users that usually want to be in that echo chamber. At least bans are very notorious there, and not shadowbans/algorithm silencing while Elon says "I am a free speech absolutist".
mitxela 2mo ago
> X is far less of an echo chamber [citation needed] - an echo chamber you agree with is still an echo chamber.
- olalonde 2mo ago
  X: "Before Musk acquired it, Twitter’s users were more liberal; now it’s about even on X" https://www.techpolicy.press/what-are-the-politics-of-a-platform-the-case-of-x/ https://www.techpolicy.press/what-are-the-politics-of-a-plat... Bluesky: "8% of the links were to right-leaning websites" https://labhorizons.co.uk/2025/02/new-study-highlights-blueskys-political-leanings-and-rapid-user-growth/ https://labhorizons.co.uk/2025/02/new-study-highlights-blues... Reddit: "There is a strong Pro-Left/Anti-Right bias to the top 100 posts of Reddit with 112x more posts (99.1%) favoring the American Left Wing compared to the Right" https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/reddits-american-political-left-wing-bias-a-study-of-the-top-100-posts-from-september-12-21-2024/ https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/reddi... TruthSocial: do I really need to pull that up?