I've been on the Internet literally since before there was an Internet per se (that is, on the original DOD ARPANET that became the Internet). I've been thinking about Musk's actions over the last few days. I cannot think of any instance of any Internet-related firm ever attempting a broad *** censorship of their users' *** ability to post freely available, legal information, including discussion and links to such information, except ... that in so doing, Musk joins the ranks of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and other countries that criminalize all manner of information as part of their repressive regimes.

Musk has now bound himself to them and their philosophies, and any advertisers, firms, or other organizations doing business with him in any way, regarding any of his companies, will be doing the same by association going forward.

It's important to keep in mind what's happening. This isn't a case of a social media firm saying "you can't post lies here about COVID that can hurt people". This is a site saying "you can't even mention the fact that there is a controversy about COVID, or post a link to anyone at another social media site that may have users that discuss this topic. And Musk is attempting to extend that to mainstream media as well. He views #Mastodon in particular as a threat, no matter how much he tries to downplay it, otherwise he wouldn't be blocking links to large instances.
@lauren Elmo is turning Twitter into Ba Sing Se.
@lauren I lost a few coworkers to rona. Idk why some people I passes by while others it kills, but itโ€™s a real deal. Didnโ€™t hardly do anything to me, my wife and our youngest son but made my oldest son deathly sick. Strange how it works.

@lauren The action by NBC is particularly chilling. Musk seems to be blackmailing mainstream media with the threat of curtailing their use of Twitter. This goes beyond retribution against individual reporters.

#twittermigration

@lauren
So much for the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist."
@ToddVierling @lauren
He meant "free speech abolitionist" but mis-spelt it..

@lauren

You might be missing CompuServe and AOL, which were known to be heavy handed in censorship. Actual ArpaNet, not so. USENET was particularly resilient to individual asmin censorship. Though NNTP and news over UUCP was a distributed system, wasn't it.

@ParanoidFactoid Strictly speaking, those weren't even Internet services originally, and that was so early in the history of any kind of social media that the foundations weren't even clear yet. ARPANET and early Internet had Acceptable Use Policies but they can't be reasonably compared to what Musk is doing now.
@lauren Woah, right! Come to think of it even the AACS decryption key takedown effort was instantiated by industry interest groups, not net firms. Good lord
@lauren @TheBird Accountability to any individual and/or corporation that supports this fascist is necessary, expeditiously.

@HumanityExists @lauren

Um, I'm really confused. Did you tag me by accident? I only boosted the original post and didn't write a reply. So I'm confused on the tag.

@TheBird @lauren I might have. Still learning, so my apologies.
@HumanityExists @lauren Ok! it's alright! I wasn't sure if it was accidently or if you wanted my thoughts personally and if we'd interacted recently that brought me to mind. figured better to ask!
@lauren The false equivalencies some are posting in your replies are ludicrous. Social media companies blocked hate speech and those inciting violence and real harm to people, and even then they were very slow and reluctant to respond. Attacking reporters and journalists and threatening scientists is the work of dictators and autocrats.
The most dangerous man in America is back on twitterโ€ฆ

  James Oโ€™Keefe got his personal account back in the last hour.        

CITIZEN FREE PRESS
@lauren I remember ARPA NET and Netscape explorer
@mxnblue Actually "ARPANET" and "Netscape Navigator" but close enough!
@lauren sorry my typo, the corrector is my enemy lol

@lauren
though on a much smaller scale the recent freenode / libera IRC move has some similarities:

https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/26/freenode_irc_takeover/

edit: by recent I mean last year

After staff revolt, Freenode management takes over hundreds of IRC channels for 'policy violations'

Gentoo and Raku call foul

The Register
@lauren
The question really is, does anyone care? Russia, Iran, etc were all sanctioned for their behavior and then treated them like parishes. It's a different game now. Elon is carrying favor with the mob. Trump is going down and they are jockeying for his followers. Elon is tossing his hat in the ring.
@statmonkey Oh, I think you'll find the EU cares and can cause him pretty much endless problems. And eventually, the FTC here as well. And more.
@lauren I hope you are right. I'm looking at these people Aaron Rupar for example, and it looks like he can't wait to get back on that platform. I find that unsettling and disappointing.
@statmonkey @lauren itโ€™s disappointing but being on Twitter has probably made him a lot of money and he cares about continuing his income stream more than letting Elon monetize his content for Elonโ€™s pro-fascist purposes.
@lauren on discord, I would hit the ThumbsUp or Superfan emoji, what is the equivalent here; do I favor or boost you? Sorry, new new masto, and really social media in general. Thx
@segfaul7 Hi. You can favorite ("Star") if you like it, and/or Boost to share it. But of course, only when worthy!
@lauren that is a very good point
@lauren Twitter is now similar to a country where a coup has taken place recently and the new leader promises freedom and transparency, but has soon turned into a dictator.
@w8in See Woody Allen's film "Bananas" (1974).

@lauren

Same, but IRC and Usenet, a bit later. Yep. Exactly.

@lauren Capitalism (at least our current version of it) seems like a totalitarian ideology. I wonder if that is why Elon ended up aligned with the other practitioners of totalitarianism.
@lauren He thinks he's purchased a kingdom over which he can rule and dominate. He is not well.