Jelani CobbNov 27, 2022

“To the extent that people remain active on Twitter, they preserve the viability of Musk’s gambit. The illusory sense of community that still lingers on the platform is one of Musk’s most significant assets. No matter which side prevails, the true victor in any war is the person selling weapons to both sides.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-i-quit-elon-musks-twitter

Why I Quit Elon Musk’s Twitter

Jelani Cobb writes about his recent decision to quit Elon Musk’s Twitter, a social-media platform that once represented the new frontier of digital democracy.

The New Yorker
Show threadClaes de Vreese ☑️Nov 27, 2022
@Jelaniya @Chanders I think this will be a core issue in the coming weeks. The migration is happening. The first transaction costs were met by many. But going full in and leaving twitter feels like a risk and potentially a real loss to many who spent time building a community. The long game is the real challenge.
Show threadJelani CobbNov 27, 2022
@claesdevreese @Chanders Yeah but it’s like a rental community. The emotional attachment to the place may be significant but you’re really subject to the prerogatives of the landlord. In this case the new landlord is a real genital. Eventually the place will get so run down you’ll have to move on.
Show threadProkofyNov 27, 2022
@Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders And if it doesn't fall apart? We need a game plan for if it succeeds, grows, and many ordinary people now find it easier or better to use without the crabby, vindictive, identity-driven left on it, you know? I would be careful how you play this. Of course if you want it to be part of a growing civil war, understood, just be clear about where the front line is and whose lives will be sacrificed.
Show threadRobinNov 27, 2022
@prokofy @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders it’s owned by Musk and priced out of anyone else ever taking over. His intentions are very very clear
Show threadProkofyNov 27, 2022
@Chimaera @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders The question is whether he deliberately breaks it utterly so that it is entirely destroyed as an organizer around everything from unions to the war in Ukraine - but useless even to follow Eurovision or NYC subway stalls while AI takes over -- or instead to bang it to shake out the leftists along with the bots and use it as a political organizing tool for the GOP to prevail. EG define break and takeover. His intentions are manifest yet not known.
Show threadRobinNov 27, 2022

@prokofy @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders any scenario envisioned includes the owner of that platform tweeting to millions on the eve of the US midterms to vote Republican because “balance.”

Bottom line: I understood I needed to get out once I realized the voices were coming from inside the house. He intentionally and knowingly amplifies Nazi rhetoric

Show threadProkofyNov 28, 2022
@Chimaera @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders Yet none of you complained when Obama harnessed Facebook to win, enabling the 14-year-old daughter of his supporters in my parish to phone strangers in Ohio and harangue them to vote, or when on early Twitter, Dave Winner helped out Obama by tweeting to zillions, "Everybody in the Northeast is a racist unless they vote for Obama". And a million other examples. This sort of thing never feels bad on your own side.
Show threadDavid Reinertson
@prokofy @Chimaera @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders Facebook is fine.
Nov 28, 2022 at 1:35amWeb
Show threadProkofyNov 28, 2022
@davidreinertson @Chimaera @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders I don't think Facebook is "fine" when, unasked, I can see Jordan Petersen in my feed and be harassed by faux friend requests by KGB goons who have named themselves after Soviet ships and never get removed by FB who thinks they are people. No, not fine. And yes, harnessed, by various sides, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Yes, it's a war, even if virtual, that all too often these days materializes in deadly forms in RL