Meta Launches Threads to Take on Twitter

[Vayra86]

Not sure what the negative to the email dump was / is. It was just that .. Musk handed over thousands of Twitter execs company emails to a respectable journalist who in turn allowed anyone and everyone with a Twitter account to view said emails. We call that 'transparency' and transparency is a good thing. Honestly it boggles my mind when I hear people come out against transparency.

This is a Musk-party for a Musk-party, that is what the problem is, I don't know how much clearer I can express this for you. The man is desperate for attention because he just lost a few dozen billion dollars on a purchase. He plays the public to get attention. 'Look, how transparent we are' is exactly what HE had planned for YOU to say as a response to this move. You fell for it hook line and sinker.

If you can't see those narratives, like I said, you're in deep, and I can't help you other than through the power of repetition and explaining it again like I do in this post. Don't take it the wrong way, I'm not trying to belittle you. You're just not seeing the real world behind the facade. These companies and people/ego's ride on that facade, to manipulate the real world. Add some strong polarised camps and you have the perfect recipe to keep everyone deluded & busy while nobody bats an eye to the actual agenda you're pushing.

Commerce & politics 101...

If you want to analyse what a piece of information was launched in the ether for in earnest, what you need to do is consider carefully 'Who benefits'. Its the same idea as 'following the money'. It leads you to the truth behind the facade. Zoom out as far as you can. What happens on Twitter serves to benefit Musk, and Musk only. Not you. Not me. Musk. Note I"m never even talking for a second about whatever political wing we're on. Its irrelevant. The endgame is the same: Power. Money. Influence. And its not your power, no matter how often CEO's tell you they're democratizing something.

If that penny now does drop for you... you might ask 'But then, is everything I see online and on TV in fact a small or a bigger lie?'
The answer is yes. There is always an agenda you're not seeing, or not quite understanding to the full extent. So how do you avoid the lies? Simple; you avoid believing the platforms, the talk shows, and bring everything back down to the core principles of what a 'thing' is. Social media is such a 'thing', a system of rules and conditions. And they don't favor you as end user. You're the product, the means to someone else's end. Your clicks. Your likes. Your content. All the 'thing' has to manage, is how they funnel maximum user counts to hot topics, to earn money.

Here's a piece of ingame brilliance to accompany this story. Yep, its that old.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is also a paradox when it comes to having 'more information'. The more you get, the harder it becomes to distill the information you need. Social Media offer you, alongside the internet, an infinite source of information. As a result people know less, and have more trouble filtering things down to what théy need to know.

 

[Why_Me]

This is a Musk-party for a Musk-party, that is what the problem is, I don't know how much clearer I can express this for you. The man is desperate for attention because he just lost a few dozen billion dollars on a purchase. He plays the public to get attention. 'Look, how transparent we are' is exactly what HE had planned for YOU to say as a response to this move. You fell for it hook line and sinker.

If you can't see those narratives, like I said, you're in deep, and I can't help you other than through the power of repetition and explaining it again like I do in this post. Don't take it the wrong way, I'm not trying to belittle you. You're just not seeing the real world behind the facade. These companies and people/ego's ride on that facade, to manipulate the real world. Add some strong polarised camps and you have the perfect recipe to keep everyone deluded & busy while nobody bats an eye to the actual agenda you're pushing.

Commerce & politics 101...

If you want to analyse what a piece of information was launched in the ether for in earnest, what you need to do is consider carefully 'Who benefits'. Its the same idea as 'following the money'. It leads you to the truth behind the facade. Zoom out as far as you can. What happens on Twitter serves to benefit Musk, and Musk only. Not you. Not me. Musk. Note I"m never even talking for a second about whatever political wing we're on. Its irrelevant. The endgame is the same: Power. Money. Influence. And its not your power, no matter how often CEO's tell you they're democratizing something.

If that penny now does drop for you... you might ask 'But then, is everything I see online and on TV in fact a small or a bigger lie?'
The answer is yes. There is always an agenda you're not seeing, or not quite understanding to the full extent. So how do you avoid the lies? Simple; you avoid believing the platforms, the talk shows, and bring everything back down to the core principles of what a 'thing' is. Social media is such a 'thing', a system of rules and conditions. And they don't favor you as end user. You're the product, the means to someone else's end. Your clicks. Your likes. Your content. All the 'thing' has to manage, is how they funnel maximum user counts to hot topics, to earn money.

Here's a piece of ingame brilliance to accompany this story. Yep, its that old.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is also a paradox when it comes to having 'more information'. The more you get, the harder it becomes to distill the information you need. Social Media offer you, alongside the internet, an infinite source of information. As a result people know less, and have more trouble filtering things down to what théy need to know.

Not much more to read into it other than the facts and the facts are Musk released thousands of company emails showing collusion between Twitter and the government. That's called transparency and transparency is a good thing. Zuckerberg on the other hand is a known slimeball. This new social media thing he's pushing is going to be a major fail seeing how it's going to be a censored echo chamber aka safe place for people who can't handle anyone that has opinions that differ from there own.

 

[Vayra86]

Not much more to read into it other than the facts and the facts are Musk released thousands of company emails showing collusion between Twitter and the government. That's called transparency and transparency is a good thing. Zuckerberg on the other hand is a known slimeball. This new social media thing he's pushing is going to be a major fail seeing how it's going to be a censored echo chamber aka safe place for people who can't handle anyone that has opinions that differ from there's.

"In the current, digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible. Rumors about petty issues, misinterpretations, slander. All this junk data preserved in an unfiltered state, growing at an alarming rate. It will only slow down social progress, reduce the rate of evolution. The digital society furthers human flaws, and selectively rewards development of convenient half-truths."
"Everyone withdraws into their own small gated community, afraid of a larger forum. They stay inside their little ponds, leaking whatever "truth" suits them into the growing cesspool of society at large. The different cardinal truths neither clash nor mesh. No one is invalidated, but nobody is right. Not even natural selection can take place here. The world is being engulfed in "truth." And this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper."

Colonel and Rose,
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty[37][38]

Again, try to pull away from the singular event, and zoom out, I have no interest going into the cesspool with you

 

[Colddecked]

Not much more to read into it other than the facts and the facts are Musk released thousands of company emails showing collusion between Twitter and the government. You can twist that anyway you want but those are the facts. That's called transparency and transparency is a good thing. Zuckerberg on the other hand is a known slimeball. This new social media thing he's pushing is going to be a major fail seeing how it's going to be a censored echo chamber aka safe place for people who can't handle anyone that disagrees with them.

Government asking Twitter to moderate its content with respect to the law is I guess collusion between Twitter and govt sure...

Its just so ironic you are billing Threads as an echo chamber when Twitter has become exactly that. Musk, the "free speech absolutist" outright bans people that he doesn't agree with. How is that not already the echo chamber you are rallying against?

 

[Why_Me]

Government asking Twitter to moderate its content with respect to the law is I guess collusion between Twitter and govt sure...

Its just so ironic you are billing Threads as an echo chamber when Twitter has become exactly that. Musk, the "free speech absolutist" outright bans people that he doesn't agree with. How is that not already the echo chamber you are rallying against?

The Bolsheviks had that same mindset hence the reason they started Pravda news service.

btw I haven't come across any noticeable bans lately and I'm an avid Twitter user.

 

[Colddecked]

The Bolsheviks had that same mindset hence the reason they started Pravda news service.

btw I haven't come across any noticeable bans lately and I'm an avid Twitter user.

Yet the government allowed Musk to buy Twitter. Did the Soviets allow their political opponents to buy state media?

 

[Vayra86]

I'm an avid Twitter user.

This is the core of the issue, and why you are in denial. A piece of stability is met with criticism and this is a problem to accept. Its a form of enslavement.

And as a result you're positing an example that supports that psychology: 'Twitter is a good place'. Additionally, your comparison to other historical times is completely off and lacks context.
Step outside your bubble.

 

[InVasMani]

You sir know your pizza ^^

That pizza looks editable, but greek olives are of a higher class pizza sophistication. Damn that thing is loaded though.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Twitter is not a sufficient forum for debate because of the 200ish character limit. Threads will not be a sufficient forum for debate and discussion, because of the 500ish character limit.

The only good discussions I've seen on Twitter were super-long chains of X/20 posts where a complete idea could actually be discussed. But there's numerous problems with that: post chains are edited one-at-a-time, replied one-at-a-time, linked one at a time. Replies are all short-form rather than long form (or really medium form: a 500 character essay from grade school would need 3 or 4 Tweets just to cover an elementary subject).

What Twitter, and Threads, are and will be is entertainment. Short form comments to make people think they're participating but really I'm just tuning out most comments because no one has the ability to say anything more than a copy/pasted meme all the time.

-------

I used 880 characters above the line. This "post" would have taken up 4 tweets. I know I'm verbose but I don't think I could cut the above concept much further down.

 

[Nater]

Gab is inevitable. If it's on the app store, it ain't free speech.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Not much more to read into it other than the facts and the facts are Musk released thousands of company emails showing collusion between Twitter and the government. That's called transparency and transparency is a good thing. Zuckerberg on the other hand is a known slimeball. This new social media thing he's pushing is going to be a major fail seeing how it's going to be a censored echo chamber aka safe place for people who can't handle anyone that has opinions that differ from there own.

Oh gosh, the Twitter Files crap again? You know Musk shadowbanned Matt Taibbi right?

Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi ‘shadow banned’ by Elon Musk in Substack feud

Matt Taibbi reportedly had his official Twitter account “shadow banned” after he refused to permanently decamp from his lucrative Substack subscription newsletter site.

nypost.com

Elon Musk is so short-sighted with his crap, he can't even keep straight his allies from his foes. Matt Taibbi, the guy pushing that false narrative of collusion and helping Elon Musk spread that bullcrap about "Twitter files" was just colluded off of the platform he was defending.

There's one rule of Twitter and one rule only: worship Elon Musk, or get off. That's why Threads got so many signups in the past few hours. I hate Zuckerberg as much as the next guy, but Twitter itself has proven to be untrustworthy (and incredibly bankrupt, as they are unable to pay Google bills last month leading to the technical glitches last weekend).

Of course, I'm pushing for the greater Fediverse / Mastodon / Lemmy and hoping they succeed. But I recognize that Threads is coming in here at a time where other social media sites (Reddit, StackOverflow, and Twitter) are having significant issues. Zuckerberg's sense of timing and business is excellent, he knows the opportunity and is going for it. With all the high-profile shadowbans off of Twitter, the chilling effect has already taken hold and everyone wants to get off.

btw I haven't come across any noticeable bans lately and I'm an avid Twitter user.

Plainsite, Mark Tabbi, ElonJet.

If Elon Musk doesn't like you, you instantly get banned. In fact, the rules change about a week before the banning to give cover over the decision. Its amateur hour in terms of dictatorships, its so obvious what Musk is trying to do and he's so bad at it...

Given how many high-profile bans (and shadowbans) there have been on Twitter, all I can say is that you don't follow Twitter news as much as you think you do.

 

[WorringlyIndifferent]

Just what the world needed, a heavily censored and probably highly dangerous (to your children's mental health) social media platform launching another heavily censored product to push pre-approved ads to people who are only allowed to think about pre-approved ideas. Fun!

It's funny how apeshit everyone has gone since Elongated Muskrat took over Twitter and broadly allowed people to actually discuss things. I've noticed moderation absolutely lock down everywhere, here included, to completely block any discussions that corporations and billionaires don't like.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that every single moderation team on the internet outside of Twitter agrees exactly with all the political leanings of Google, Walmart, Microsoft, and Amazon. And explicitly doesn't even allow discussion of ideas they disagree with. Just coincidence.

Edit: it's hilarious to see people actually trying to convince anyone that Elon Musk is "the real censor!" lmao. He's banned random people who pissed him off, yes, but he hasn't done anything close to a platform-wide ban on discussions he disagrees with. The same is not true on reddit, the TPU forums, facebook, etc. Elon Musk is (generally) letting people speak freely, and that has made every censorship-obsessed billionaire and their army of drones absolutely livid. The moderation style of almost literally every other discussion platform is "How dare you discuss covid, pronouns, trans ideology, the russia/ukraine conflict, or any of about a hundred other issues unless you agree exactly with us. Banned."

Imagine having ideas so completely untenable that you literally can't allow people to discuss them at all, unless they're exactly parroting something from an NBC newscast or a Walmart press release. Lmao.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Edit: it's hilarious to see people actually trying to convince anyone that Elon Musk is "the real censor!" lmao. He's banned random people who pissed him off, yes, but he hasn't done anything close to a platform-wide ban on discussions he disagrees with.

Elon Musk Didn’t Just Do Turkey’s Bidding. Censoring for Strongmen Is Now a Pattern.

Free speech—unless a country doesn’t really do free speech.

slate.com

Twitter today is literally censorship as a service. Turkey, India, etc. etc. Every government order of censorship Elon Musk has 100% complied with.

Twitter in 2021 did NOT comply with government requests of censorship (or at least, didn't comply with all of them. I think it was like 50%ish?) . This 100% compliance with the censors is a new thing starting in 2022 after the Elon Musk purchase.

Twitter Has Complied With Almost Every Government Request For Censorship Since Musk Took Over, Report Finds

The social media platform has not reported denying any government requests since Musk bought it, a change from its previous ownership.

www.forbes.com

Twitter is quickly becoming "Free Speech for Pro-Musk, Pro-Turkey, Pro-India, Pro-China" only. There's a pattern with the bans that's quite disturbing.

 

[R0H1T]

We call that 'transparency' and transparency is a good thing.

And then he banned that guy (Matt?) because he's such a thin skinned megalomaniac!

Twitter today is literally censorship as a service. Turkey, India, etc.

Not really 100% true IMO but it's not any better after Musk took over.

 

[dragontamer5788]

And then he banned that guy (Matt?) because he's such a thin skinned megalomaniac!

Shadow-banned. Cut him out of search and de-boosted all his posts. Pretends your account is still fine but you've gone silent cause no one else can hear you anymore. Worse than a ban.

Not really 100% true IMO but it's not any better after Musk took over.

We can measure the amount of censorship compliances that Twitter complied to before-and-after the Elon Musk takeover.

They've gone from 50% compliance with censorship to 100% compliance.

 

[R0H1T]

Do they even release any stats like that?

 

[dragontamer5788]

Do they even release any stats like that?

Twitter is complying with more government demands under Elon Musk

The company has not refused a single request since Musk took ownership, according to self-reported data.

restofworld.org

Looks like I misremembered: they've gone from 50% compliance to 80% compliance. Either way, we can measure how bad its gotten.

 

[R0H1T]

And if you look at some often data you would find they were not complying with a lot of court orders, which would run afoul of most law enforcement agencies.

Germany, which generated 255 requests, recently increased enforcement after revisions to a 2017 law prohibiting hate speech and extremism.

Removal Requests - X Transparency Center

Insights into legal demands to remove content from X and Periscope, and other requests to remove content based on local law(s) from around the world.

transparency.twitter.com

Not defending Musk or anything here but if you continue defying court orders you would be shut down in most places.

 

[kapone32]

There's a difference between having open conversations and people trying to spread false narratives. I doubt this platform will offer any safety mechanisms against the spread of misinformation (from any front). Twitter sucked at that, and it sucks even more now. Social media is not news media. It's (as everybody knows) a marketing tool. Folks know that, right?

Frankly, anybody that uses social media as a source of fact needs to go back to the classroom and read some books.

But they are trying to ban those books. That you can probably read digitally anyway.

And if you look at some often data you would find they were not complying with a lot of court orders, which would run afoul of most law enforcement agencies.

Removal Requests - X Transparency Center

Insights into legal demands to remove content from X and Periscope, and other requests to remove content based on local law(s) from around the world.

transparency.twitter.com

Not defending Musk or anything here but if you continue defying court orders you would be shut down in most places.

He owes the King of England a few Quid.

 

[R-T-B]

Twitter email dump.

That was ... not newsworthy at all?

 

[dragontamer5788]

Not defending Musk or anything here but if you continue defying court orders you would be shut down in most places.

Yeah, but Twitter in 2014 gladly shut itself down in Turkey rather than comply with their censorship requests.

In 2022 after the Elon Musk takeover, they complied and let Turkey censor a number of people to solidify Erdogan election chances. EDIT: With the pattern continuing in China and India, its clear that Twitter is no longer an advocate for free speech.

 

[R-T-B]

and who was this "respectable journalist" and what makes them respectable?

He's not anymore, that's for sure. What was described was a major ethics violation.

That's called transparency and transparency is a good thing.

No, that's called an ethics violation. You've got a warped view here man.

avid Twitter user.

It shows. Everyone but your type is leaving, so enjoy your newfound echo chamber.

 

[R0H1T]

Yeah, but Twitter in 2014 gladly shut itself down in Turkey rather than comply with their censorship requests.

In 2022 after the Elon Musk takeover, they complied and let Turkey censor a number of people to solidify Erdogan election chances. EDIT: With the pattern continuing in China and India, its clear that Twitter is no longer an advocate for free speech.

Or maybe they thought compliance is better than randomly choosing which country's rule of law is better?

 

[Double-Click]

There's a difference between having open conversations and people trying to spread false narratives. I doubt this platform will offer any safety mechanisms against the spread of misinformation (from any front). Twitter sucked at that, and it sucks even more now. Social media is not news media. It's (as everybody knows) a marketing tool. Folks know that, right?

Frankly, anybody that uses social media as a source of fact needs to go back to the classroom and read some books.

A-freakin'-men!

The blurred lines between legitimate news sources and made up crap on social media has proven just how powerful disinformation is (sadly).
As much as I love to tell people to think with their head and make informed decisions....it's just not enough.

There has to be REAL change and accountability with Federal law pertaining to disinformation and media gate keepers. Period.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Or maybe they thought compliance is better than randomly choosing which country's rule of law is better?

One of the teams Elon Musk fired in November 2022 was the compliance teams.

I think they're just complying with everyone instead of thinking about what is, or isn't, legal or moral anymore. Participating in the Chinese censorship of the various genocides going on in China is... immoral and should be resisted.

Note: Saudi Arabia continues to hold a stake in Twitter and they may be calling some of the shots. (Elon Musk let them keep their shares in Twitter, and likely gave them more influence). I don't think this all traces back to Elon, but the company he's chosen is quite suspect.