I’m not concerned about what might happen to Twitter under its new owner - as far as I’m concerned, the whole thing can go die in a fire.
What worries me is that, as the site goes from a source of news to a right-wing hellscape, the media might continue to amplify the increasingly crass faschist messages there simply for excitement value, similar to the coverage of Trump’s 2018 campaign.
Basically, news orgs will need to break the habit of reporting stuff that happens on Twitter as news.
If enough of them manage to do so, that would actually be a real improvement: they would have to go back to hunting news closer to its source, rather than just waiting to have it spoon-fed by The Algorithm.
@koherecoWatchdog @slothrop From what I've heard, that's what Musk *wants* it to become. Given that Musk's skills and accomplishments are, like his net worth and ego, almost entirely inflated, I don't see that happening, especially with Twitter being unprofitable and the unachievable profit levels he'll need to not lose money on this.
🇳🇱
Oddly enough I **wannt** Elon to take over twitter, largely due to is minimal censorship attitude, would be a huge improvement.
That said I would not be very happy with him turning it into something you **need* to function in society.
@freemo @koherecoWatchdog @slothrop
I don't think Musk is being genuine about his "minimal censorship" attitudes. He's already said he wants a "moderation council", which is a walk back from his previous statements.
To be honest I don't think he has any idea what he is doing. He bought the site on an impulse, waived the right to due diligence, tried to back out when he realized he was paying $44 billion for a site that barely turns any profit at the best of times, and finally relented when he realized that he was about to go through a deposition on the matter.
@mathlover Time will tell I suppose. You may be right.