Does Twitter blocking Mastodon links constitute anticompetitive behavior against a nascent rival? I asked a couple of legal experts, including Bill Baer, the former antitrust chief at DOJ and FTC in two US administrations. Here's what they say: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/tech/mastodon-twitter-links/index.html

@b_fung

Our favourite gargoyle garรงon @Gargron (aka Mastodon CEO and founder Eugen Rochko) should ask for... (pinky-mouth moment)... โ‚ฌ100M per day in damages for the anti-competitive blocking of all links to Mastodon, covering any retrospective damages from 16 Dec onwards.

@demi7en @b_fung @Gargron
Considering the nature of the platform, who has the resources to bring a case, what harm can be proven and compensation would go to whom?

I suspect that until he bans the word entirely, this only has the opposite effect of driving even more of us out of his pit.

@djstreethawk @b_fung @Gargron

The suggestion was slightly tongue-in-cheek, with an additional pinky-mouth embedded, but 1) actions such as anti-competitive behaviour should have consequences, and 2) there are probably lawyers in the US who'd love to take the case. In any case the #EU *is* looking at #Musk's apparent deranged behaviour so we'll see how they deal with this.

The very-selective-free-speech crusader's banning of all links and mentions of #Mastodon is, as you say, 'good publicity' (also see: 'all publicity').

It is somewhat ironic that people in the free world need to resort to word-morphing and alternative expressions (see: #PRC #China ) to express something positive that the Dear Dictator is afraid of and wishes to eradicate...