Mastodawn

Greg Dec 24, 2022

Seth Cotlar Dec 23, 2022

Plutocrats like Musk, politicians like Trump, and right wing media figures like Tucker deploy the term "Wokeism" the way the John Birch Society deployed the term "Communism." You can also basically sub in the word "fluoride" for "Fauci." Screenshots are from 1958.

Greg Dec 21, 2022

Charlotte Clymer Dec 21, 2022

Actually, the tax returns of all Supreme Court justices should absolutely be made public. That should be a requirement to be one of the nine people with lifetime appointments who make final legal decisions for the rest of the country.

Greg Dec 21, 2022

Will Oremus Dec 21, 2022

Another little sign of Mastodon's progress: The tech news aggregator Techmeme, which links to the day's most talked-about tech news stories along with relevant commentary on Twitter, has added a Mastodon section. https://www.techmeme.com

Techmeme

Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web.

Greg Dec 20, 2022

Drew Harwell Dec 19, 2022

We found out what really happened in the stalking incident Elon Musk cited to ban @elonjet and a bunch of journalists. This is the story we were asking Musk about on Twitter when he suspended @taylorlorenz. (I'm still suspended!) https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/18/details-of-musk-stalking-incident/

Musk blamed a Twitter account for an alleged stalker. Police see no link.

The incident last week underscored how Elon Musk’s personal concerns can influence his governance of a social media platform used by hundreds of millions of people.

The Washington Post

Greg Dec 19, 2022

Dan Gillmor Dec 19, 2022

Hypothesis (unlikely): Musk is pushing so many people to create Mastodon accounts that the communities/servers here will be overloaded, thereby creating a retreat to the "reliability" of the centralized service. More-evil hypothesis would have his friends overseas (in Russia, China, e.g.) launch DOS attacks against major Mastodon instances, for same purpose.

Greg Dec 18, 2022

Dan Gillmor Dec 18, 2022

Musk's mother says Twitter users work for Twitter.

They do. They're digital sharecroppers. She's just saying the quiet part out loud.

Greg Dec 18, 2022

Dan Gillmor Dec 18, 2022

Bad news:

Big Journalism -- in its typical bended-knee-to-power fashion -- made only the meekest protests to Musk while continuing to boost his increasingly odious "service".

This is a victory for a man who holds honest journalism in contempt, and another blow to freedom of expression.

(Kudos to the WashPost for letting its journalists tell the world how hypocritical their business is.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/17/musk-twitter-journalist-suspension-media-react/
#journalism #birdsite

Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left.

Elon Musk's suspension of journalists from Twitter was viewed as hostile to free speech. But media has always had a conflicted relationship with Twitter.

The Washington Post

Greg Dec 18, 2022

Taylor Lorenz Dec 18, 2022

Earlier today Elon Musk said that my ban was temporary, 45 min later he denied my appeal to reinstate my account and confirmed that I am *permanently* banned. The email I just received says the decision cannot be reversed.
I have never once violated Twitters rules or terms of service. I’ve never had a single tweet flagged, my account was permanently banned with no warning and with no reason, after I reached out to Musk for comment.
#twittermigration #twitterexodus #twitter #tech #news #technews

Greg Dec 17, 2022

Dan Gillmor Dec 17, 2022

I don't think journalists (in general) -- and certainly not the organizations they work for -- fully understand the threat Musk represents to the future of free expression and journalism itself.

Begging him to reinstate the banned accounts is pure folly. It is bended-knee supplication to a sociopath who now controls a powerful media company. But the power of his company depends in no small degree on keeping journalists there.

Leave. Now.