So, Elon did it!

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I don't really get the purpose of buying it, but he's got enough money to do it. It would be hilarious if he just shut it down.

There is no fixing social media. It's a cancer. People in small communities can be great. Anything beyond that and the ugliness of humanity is only amplified.
 
spagthorpe said:
I don't really get the purpose of buying it, but he's got enough money to do it. It would be hilarious if he just shut it down.

There is no fixing social media. It's a cancer. People in small communities can be great. Anything beyond that and the ugliness of humanity is only amplified.
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He gains access to a massive amount of information.

Think Cambridge Analaytica and Facebook.
 
spagthorpe said:
I don't really get the purpose of buying it, but he's got enough money to do it. It would be hilarious if he just shut it down.

There is no fixing social media. It's a cancer. People in small communities can be great. Anything beyond that and the ugliness of humanity is only amplified.
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That ugliness is guano for billionaires
 
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I think he made a mistake but we'll see.

It's one thing to say you're going to allow free speech on the platform but actually implementing it will be difficult. One problem is the company is located in San Fransisco. That means your staff is going to be VERY liberal and they won't be willing participants.

Another problem is absolute free speech where many speakers are anonymous is a recipe for chaos. Some policing is necessary and then you get right back into the issue of what speech is allowed and who decides that.

He's a smart guy so maybe he can figure it out but it's not something I would've done. Personally I think people are souring on social media. I know I am. There are days where I don't even want to come to this forum because of all the negativity (case in point the FM3 bass amp thread).
 
There will always be tension between content moderation and free speech on social media platforms. Everyone likes the idea of a platform without content moderation until they see what that actually looks like.
 
Giving voice to the voiceless sems like an admirable goal, until you actually see it in action. There are some seriously dumb people all over the political spectrum, and then add trolls on top of that. I have never used Twitter and don't plan to, but reading comments on YouTube videos and news pages on Facebook is enough to make one lose all faith in humanity.
 
spagthorpe said:
I don't really get the purpose of buying it, but he's got enough money to do it. It would be hilarious if he just shut it down.

There is no fixing social media. It's a cancer. People in small communities can be great. Anything beyond that and the ugliness of humanity is only amplified.
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Apparently, he's not shutting it down.

But, yes, SM is cancer. This idea has been researched, and it's actually a critical size of about 200 people. Once you get above that, "person" turns into "people" and altruism disappears. It's been like that for (literally) thousands of years, and we're still many generations away from it fundamentally changing, if it ever does.

FractalAudio said:
I think he made a mistake but we'll see.

It's one thing to say you're going to allow free speech on the platform but actually implementing it will be difficult. One problem is the company is located in San Fransisco. That means your staff is going to be VERY liberal and they won't be willing participants.

Another problem is absolute free speech where many speakers are anonymous is a recipe for chaos. Some policing is necessary and then you get right back into the issue of what speech is allowed and who decides that.

He's a smart guy so maybe he can figure it out but it's not something I would've done. Personally I think people are souring on social media. I know I am. There are days where I don't even want to come to this forum because of all the negativity (case in point the FM3 bass amp thread).
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Agreed, on almost every point. But, I'm very curious to see what happens.

I'd like to see a moderation policy that only prohibits illegal content. I could easily see blocking pornography as well. Short of that...as long as there's robust blocking, I don't personally care.

The only thing that happens when you allow any sentiment/statement is that people show their true colors and you decide who you want to cut out of your feed.

I'm actually tempted to log into twitter for the first time in a decade or so. I'll probably check it out in a month or so.
 
marsonic said:
I'd like to see a moderation policy that only prohibits illegal content.
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Illegal where? This is an interesting problem he's about to run into: what's legal one place is not in another and Twitter is a service that spans the globe.

marsonic said:
I could easily see blocking pornography as well.
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Why? It's very easy to quickly go from "free speech for all!" to "well, except for the stuff I don't agree you should post...like boobs and dicks".

The entirety of the thing is deeply complex. I'm sure Musk is aware of this. He's not an idiot. But I'm not sure he's capable of changing it from what it is.

He does gain access to a wealth of data and a platform that's proved to be fantastic for maniupulating public sentiments. That's huge. He and Theil are very excellent at this kind of thing. See: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/01/31/book-review-zero-to-one/

If he announces a run for president you know what his end game was buying it.

I mostly agree with @FractalAudio though: it's a poor move on his part. I will watch with great amusement as he tries to steer the Fail Whale towards a harbor he thinks is safe.
 
Musk is talking about having all humans there be actually identified, as an attempted cure/improvement for anonymous disinformation, bullying, and trolling. It's not easy to implement that for real though.

Also see this post about how social media and other modern societal forces encourage behavior that used to be considered undesirable, and this one about the negative effects of social media's content selection algorithms and their inherent amplification effect.
 
iaresee said:
Illegal where? This is an interesting problem he's about to run into: what's legal one place is not in another and Twitter is a service that spans the globe.


Why? It's very easy to quickly go from "free speech for all!" to "well, except for the stuff I don't agree you should post...like boobs and dicks".

The entirety of the thing is deeply complex. I'm sure Musk is aware of this. He's not an idiot. But I'm not sure he's capable of changing it from what it is.

He does gain access to a wealth of data and platform that's proved to be fantastic for maniupulating public sentiments. That's huge.

If he announces a run for president you know what his end game was buying it.

I mostly agree with @FractalAudio though: it's a poor move on his part. I will watch with great amusement as he tries to steer the Fail Whale towards a harbor he thinks is safe.
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In the US, where Twitter is based.

And, yeah...those are good points, except for a few things...

First, people are already using it to manipulate public sentiment. And "no one" has a problem with it. The only difference is who has the potential to do it, and I prefer someone who at least pretends to care about free speech (the concept, not the constitutional protection).

I guess blocking porn isn't really a big deal because it's hard to monetize content on twitter. It already exists and isn't actually a problem. So, yeah...scratch that. Block content that's illegal in the US at most, and we'll see what happens. Frankly, I don't even really agree with that....I just think it's legally compulsory.

Musk isn't a natural born US citizen. He can't run for president.
 
marsonic said:
First, people are already using it to manipulate public sentiment. And "no one" has a problem with it. The only difference is who has the potential to do it, and I prefer someone who at least pretends to care about free speech (the concept, not the constitutional protection).
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I disagree "no one has a problem with it". Plenty of people have a problem with how Twitter is used to manipulate public sentiment.

marsonic said:
Musk isn't a natural born US citizen. He can't run for president.
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It's crazy the things you can change when you own a public sentiment changing machine. :)
 
I think the tipping point was when Twitter banned Babylon Bee. I think thats when Musk said to himself "this has got to end", and postd that Poll. All theory, but works for me.
 
These days “Free Speech” is more often than not a code word for “let me lie to your face.” Someone’s “right” to lie is greater than anyone’s protection from harm, right? Just ask the Rohingya Muslims, they had the free speech of Facebook reign down on them like the wrath of God, but at least every bored person in Myanmar got to say whatever they wanted.

But Musk will be fine no matter what, so why should he look at what happens to the least powerful because of social media? With this he’s acting like a playboy, but instead of womanizing, he’s playing around with all people. It’s depraved.
 
marsonic said:
In the US, where Twitter is based.

And, yeah...those are good points, except for a few things...

First, people are already using it to manipulate public sentiment. And "no one" has a problem with it. The only difference is who has the potential to do it, and I prefer someone who at least pretends to care about free speech (the concept, not the constitutional protection).

I guess blocking porn isn't really a big deal because it's hard to monetize content on twitter. It already exists and isn't actually a problem. So, yeah...scratch that. Block content that's illegal in the US at most, and we'll see what happens. Frankly, I don't even really agree with that....I just think it's legally compulsory.

Musk isn't a natural born US citizen. He can't run for president.
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Many people have a problem with how both Twitter and Facebook are used to manipulate public sentiment. That's what started all of this. People amplifying disinformation were removed for violating the TOS. It's going to once again become a major platform for everything that's bad.
Dave Merrill said:
Musk is talking about having all humans there be actually identified, as an attempted cure/improvement for anonymous disinformation, bullying, and trolling. It's not easy to implement that for real though.

Also see this post about how social media and other modern societal forces encourage behavior that used to be considered undesirable, and this one about the negative effects of social media's content selection algorithms and their inherent amplification effect.
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This is why he bought it. Forcing everyone to provide info to be identified gives him a treasure trove of personal info to use for many things.
 
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