Jörg Lenz ✅Dec 19, 2022
Jon Worth

And based on what's happened the past 48 hours on Twitter... think forward

Imagine - say - Washington Post revealed abuse of workers at a Tesla plant in Shanghai

What would happen?

Would it be dealt with fairly? Now I really doubt it. The reporter(s) would get blocked, and links to the story flagged.

Twitter is no longer a reliable and predictable place for news and the first take on the news.

Dec 18, 2022 at 7:30pmWeb
Show threadDiego BeghinDec 18, 2022
@jon I'm amazed at how fast he is turning Twitter into Truth Social 2.0
Show threadJon WorthDec 18, 2022
@DiegoBeghin Right. Exactly. But then with a MASSIVE tech overhead. It's quite the trip!
Show thread]colemankane[Dec 18, 2022
@jon @DiegoBeghin it is fun watching conservatives actively celebrate Twitter becoming what they falsely claim Washington Post to be.
Show threadmaskdmiragDec 19, 2022
@DiegoBeghin @jon without ever using it, I imagine truth social is much more fair and balanced
Show threadNorra kommissionenDec 18, 2022
@jon And still people keep discussing the narcist egomaniac *on his service*, faking resistance while making him richer.
Show threadJoe LitobarskiDec 18, 2022
@jon Does Twitter lose its importance if journalists leave? I mean, Trump was a master of saying something outrageous on Twitter *and then getting it picked up by news outlets*. It was a symbiotic relationship. Without the media, what's the difference between Musk-Twitter and 4chan?
Show threadrandrewbuchanDec 18, 2022
@jon
Yes, sadly you are right and the power is going to his head.
It’s telling that he wants to silence any criticism, stop people sharing links to other platforms and then there’s the photo of him with Kushner at the World Cup, both supported by the Saudis.
Show threadSchergë 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔐𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔶 𝔐.Dec 18, 2022
@jon
Twitter ist schon einige Zeit ein Zombie. Und jetzt sehen die Leute die Körperteile abfallen.
Show threadDaniel FeldmanDec 18, 2022
@jon even worse, the newspaper might not bother with the article in the first place if it knows it might get downranked or banned
Show threadMatti AirasDec 18, 2022
@jon I've already heard many people complain about Ukraine all but disappearing from their Twitter feeds. I may have noticed the same. Whether it's intentional or due to the feed algorithm getting lopsided because its caretakers have left the company, I don't know, but the end result is that the site is becoming less useful and less trustworthy.
Show threadTil KlemDec 18, 2022
@jon It’s a huge loss. Such a shame.
Show threadyonichanowitzDec 18, 2022
@jon 💯
Show threadjoelandrenDec 18, 2022
@jon I'm waiting for the news orgs to shut down their accounts. Should have already done so imo in support of their writers
Show threadPascal JacquemainDec 18, 2022
@jon it's worse than this.
Musk is actively dissing pre-Musk Twitter accusing it of having failed free speech and favoured one side of the argument:
- democrat vs GOP and the insurrection, the blocking of Trump
- the blocking of voices opposed to the COVID "orthodoxy" (anti-vaxxers, pro-ivermectin, people opposed to lockdowns). His tweet saying his preferred pronouns were prosecute/Fauci was insufferable.
He now hugely amplifies the alt-right, directly/indirectly encourages hate speech.
Show threadBannedalotDec 18, 2022
@jacquep @jon which is hilarious. Does he think it's Repugs buying Teslas? Enthusising about Space? What a numpty.
Show threadb8cDec 19, 2022
@jacquep @jon it's really quite Orwellian and deeply worrying
Show threadkarenDec 18, 2022
@jon it never was tho
Show threadDune2Dec 18, 2022
@jon I would also add it didn't have to be explicit. Twitter can do this with algorithm tweaks and not make it obvious. This is already happening in China.
Show threadAnimaemeDec 18, 2022

@jon Absolutely, Musk revealed he will block the integrity of the Fourth Estate + democracy if it hampers his businesses.

Twitter today - created another "rule" banning tweets/profiles that link to other social media sites, i.g. Mastodon, Post, FB & IG, however, interestingly Musk will not ban links to China's, Tik Tok (Xi's dictatorship is happy)

Show threadsulliseanDec 18, 2022
@jon The last few months have been an other-worldly shitshow, but new orgs & journalists could have asked themselves a long time ago if Twitter was ever a reliable and predictable place for them to disseminate their content. They gave up control and content moderation to a for-profit 3rd party in exchange for “reach”. Imagine if they course corrected NOW and established their own instances here…
Show threadThom O'ConnorDec 19, 2022
@jon @mvario a decentralized social network is the only method able to sustain an open and community-moderated global communication platform. An infinite spectrum of common interests allow local communities to exist for self-moderation and self-determination. Where the smallest community is oneself
Show threadPeter BrownDec 19, 2022
@thomoco @jon @mvario absolutely 👍🏼
Show threadinformatikDec 19, 2022
@jon If the reporters owned a Tesla, it would probably get disabled. 🙄
Show threadPeter BrownDec 19, 2022
@informatik @jon yup
Show threadDeborah MacPhersonDec 19, 2022
@jon
He killed it.
Because he wanted attention and because he could.
Show threadFrank VehafricDec 19, 2022
@jon We're assuming, of course, that Jeff Bezos would publish a piece about worker abuse. Would Jeff Bezos deal with worker abuse fairly given what we know about working conditions in Amazon warehouses? The corruption of the "free" press goes way beyond Elon Musk.
Show threadMojosueDec 19, 2022
@jon
The only slight relief is the closer the End is, the Sooner it comes. Bringing relief for All concerned. x
Show threadLiam RocheDec 19, 2022
@jon Agreed
Show threadBenj Soule🫂💙HumanityFirst🌅Dec 19, 2022
@jon #Truth. #Twitter has lost some credibility with #Musk, a #fascist, with manipulative ambitions, as editor in chief.
Show threadC0ppertopDec 19, 2022
@jon they weren’t sleeping on the floor of the factory enough? How can they achieve greatness, if they don’t do what the big dog did?
Show threadStone Bear Dec 19, 2022

@jon Tesla crash on I-5, major traffic jam, first responder agencies tweeting "avoid the area", get deprioritized, cascade crash in the backup... I mean, great for ConAgra 🍿 but Bad Bad for both Tesla *and* the public... and think how much taxpayer money's gonna be involved in prosecuting the subsequent lawsuit.

No thanks. Public agencies need to come out of the Twitterverse.

Show threadalexgav11Dec 19, 2022
@jon welcome!
Show threadFriedri SchmerzDec 19, 2022

@jon

Washington Post would never publish anything like that because it belongs to Jeff Bezos (Amazon). Workers are treated badly there so they would cut into their own flesh. WP is not a reliable source of information anyway.

All big Media belong to Billionaires. They decide what's in the news and what's open for discussion and what's not.

Show threadJon WorthDec 19, 2022

@sarahlehmann You've spectacularly missed the point.

Happily substitute any large-ish newspaper into the tweet, problem is the same - if Musk doesn't like it, it could summarily get blocked.

Show threadFriedri SchmerzDec 19, 2022

@jon understand that. No newspaper will report anything against the will of billionaires in fear of Twitter blocking it. For example an article in favor of fair taxes for the rich.

But all these Newspapers belong to the rich anyways.

Show threadtomcoadyDec 22, 2022
@sarahlehmann @jon I’m afraid it’s Jon who’s performing a spectacular miss here! Wake up! Almost all Western media is self censoring at best!