So I'm seeing some... let's call it well-intentioned hacker contrarianism about Musk's now-aborted battle with Apple, and his proposed "amnesty" on the platform.
It runs something like this.
* Musk sucks as a spokesman, but Apple's monopoly is bad for tech and *should* be broken up.
* Most of the people who've been banned from Twitter are actually sex workers, leftists, Muslims, etc. and we should be happy Musk will liberate them.
Let's talk about ideological drift for a second.
Policy, whether enacted by a government, a corporation, or some other organisation, has what I call a "drift." The bias of the momentum created by the policy's intentions, architecture, and timing.
When Brexit was still a mad fever dream, there were leftists who supported the idea who were "Lexit"-ers, whose criticisms of the EU stemmed from its capitalistic economic policies (epitomised by what it did to Greece).
When the Brexit referendum came along they barracked in support of it.
Their criticisms were, largely, accurate. The EU is many things, but it is not an engine for world socialism (regardless of what far right propaganda would tell you).
But the "drift" of the Brexit referendum was hard-right. As written and proposed, voting to Leave was always going to redound to the benefit of nativists, racists, conservatives, and various other opponents of the left. No leftist goals would be realised.
In a similar vein, supporting Musk's paroxysms of policy because "Heartbreaking: the worst person you know made a good point" is shortsighted and wrong.
Nothing about Musk's fight with Apple (which, as I said, has *already* been ended because CEOs gonna CEO), nor his "amnesty" contains any sliver of hope for people who believe in progressive politics, an open internet, or the breaking up of Web 2.0's consolidation. Nothing.
First and foremost I have my doubts about the amnesty in the first place, whether it's workable, and who will actually do the labour of assessing whether an account "broke the law or posted malicious spam."
But also, given half a chance, you can bet Musk will regard sex workers as "having broken the law" or unban and reban them if they try to use the platform for work. Just apply this to any other marginalised group disproportionately targeted for moderation.
The drift of Musk's approach to Twitter is far-right, even at its most haphazard and skill-less.
Being a contrarian and going "well actually, maybe this could be good because <insert leftist theoretical argument here that bears no relationship to material realities on the ground>!" is not spectacularly useful. And quite unwise.
You do not, under any circumstances, have to "hand it" to Musk.
Yes, we need to have a serious conversation about the Apple/Google duopoly. Yes, we need to talk about how simply "moderating harder" isn't a solution to every problem on social media (a very Mastodon-relevant discussion, I might add).
But doing so by implying that there's some silver lining in the poo Musk is flinging everywhere just makes me roll my eyes, I'm sorry.
@Quinnae_Moon
Everything you've said, yes!
I've found a lot of these folks are just closet / secret conservatives.
Katherine Alejandra Cross
Dani — MLT(ASCP)
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Robert
THE A Jolly Nerd
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Mary Beth Defer