It seems strange to type this but Twitter may be terminal.
The social media site that has become the go to for many years for journalists, politicians and any one interested in news especially breaking news may be on its death bed.
If this happens it can be traced back to Donald Trump, whose infamous banning for the promotion of an insurrection has caused some whose extreme views of the right of free speech as well as the rights of unfettered capitalism to take action.
Eion Musk, backed by a shady coalition of financiers, has since bought the platform and promised there would be greater free speech, essentially for right extremist groups to say what they want. It appears that the structure of the deal will essentially wreck the platform. It will either fold under the weight of debt and diminishing advertisement income as advertisers flee an increasingly hostile environment or Musk may sell before it does so.
Either way I doubt it will ever return to its former glory.
Twitter shows all that is good about the Internet, as well as all that is bad.
It has allowed for breaking news to be spread world wide, for nuance and detail to flesh out news stories. It allowed for like minded groupings of people online to form and for friendships to develop.
It has also allowed for disinformation to be spread widely. It accentuated anger and conflict, more temperate postings did not usually get the same attention.
It replaced blogs. It is clear to me that in the heyday of the Standard, where intense debates involving the likes of Whaleoil and Cactus Kate as well as Standard authors used to be quite common. Those debates and interactions have since moved onto twitter.
What Twitter came to resemble was a great big commons where information and disinformation was laid out for all to see.
Twitter’s actions in holding back Trump’s assault on democracy was a perfectly valid and much needed step to take. Using your platform for the mass promulgation of fake news should not be tolerated.
When Musk announced his take over of Twitter he said:
Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
But now that he is in control he has engaged in the sort of censorship which does not normally comply with usual understandings of the freedom of speech. Like banning parody accounts:
Musk’s response appears to be a response to accounts that parody him. He has the thickness of skin of Donald Trump.
It also reflects a general response by the right to parody. Remember when Trump threw DOJ resources into attempts to find out who on twitter was impersonating Devon Nunes’ cow?
Musk’s attempts to improve profitability includes an attempt for tick holders to pay a monthly price for the benefit of doing so. This has not gone down well. He has responded by blaming activist groups for Twitter’s financial woes when clearly it is a case of spooked advertisers backing away.
And if you think that Musk is politically impartial he has just advocated for people to vote Republican.
This is like watching a slow motion train wreck. I predict that Twitter will never be the same.
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