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Twitter 2.0: Our continued commitment to the public conversation
- summerlight 4y agoMeanwhile it's reviving tens of thousands of accounts previously banned for harassment based on a single poll from Elon's fanboy as well as ending covid 19 misinformation policy. Pathetic attempts to appease advertisers, but it's just stacking another layer of distrust.
- josteink 4y agoCorrection: It’s unbanning accounts which should never have been banned in the first place, for simply having legal to hold opinions. He’s banning child porn and bots though. Because that seemingly wasn’t banned before. He’s clearly a nazi, eh?
- jacobgorm 4y agoThis podcast episode by Sam Harris finally convinced me to close my Twitter account. Worth a listen https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/304-why-i-left-twitter https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/304...
- Apocryphon 4y agoFor some reason I think of this cheesy watered-down focus-group tested Pepsi portrayal of social consciousness when I see the word "conversation" in corporate PR. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9x15lR9VIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9x15lR9VIg
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- thdespou 4y agoTwitter team or Elon himself?
- minimaxir 4y agoThis post reads as an attempt to appease Twitter advertisers similar to Elon Musk's letter about abuse on Twitter before he officially took over, except it comes after Elon publically threatened advertisers and disparaged their largest one (Apple).
- seydor 4y agoDoesnt really say much. I will wait for Twitter 2.1
- WallyFunk 4y ago'Town Square' is a misnomer on their part. The town square is the Internet at large and not some single silo'd gatekeepery app.
- daveidol 4y agoSure, but for a lot of people sites like Twitter are their way of spreading information and having discussions online. Sadly the days of everyone hosting their own personal site or blog are gone for most of the less technically savvy.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- nmz 4y agoIts certainly a town square, just because you have your own little tavern/forum doesn't mean the town square isn't the town square.
- Macha 4y ago> First, none of our policies have changed. Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. "Nothing has changed, except..." > Our Trust & Safety team continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter's rules. The team remains strong and well-resourced, and automated detection plays an increasingly important role in eliminating abuse. It's undeniably less well-resourced than it was a few weeks ago, and people's experience indicate it's clearly less effective as a result. What a non-statement. I doubt advertisers will react the way Elon hopes they will.
- sosodev 4y agoYeah... Also, the unbanning of users previously considered hateful also directly conflicts with "to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct"
- bluescrn 4y agoRemember way back before the era of social media mob justice, when there was this concept of 'forgiveness'? At least some of the banned deserve a second chance. Those who were total monsters will probably be quickly re-banned. Others have found their own echo chambers elsewhere and won't even bother coming back.
- dagmx 4y agoBanning is usually only for repeat offenders. Usually you get multiple suspensions before the ban. Which is basically what you described and therefore is already how it works.
- cyberphobe 4y agoElon is pretty clearly unbanning violent right-wing extremists while banning rule-following accounts on the left, sometimes transparently at the direction of the right wingers. Why do you insist on pretending anything else?
- CrypticShift 4y ago> What has changed, however, is our approach to experimentation including I suppose Elon's experimental approach to management. I hope that in 10 years, we will look back at this twitter 2.0 (= musk's debacle) as the impetus that lead to more widespread adoption of social media 2.0 (= federation) I already see the snowball effect getting momentum with all this coverage (NPR, NYT...) and big name exits (Apple...)
- janoc 4y agoIt won't. Federation doesn't solve any of the problems Twitter now has. That instead of one poorly managed understaffed silo full of trolls and abusers you have 2000 poorly managed, even more understaffed systems with 2000 different approaches to moderation and content doesn't make anything easier or fixed for people who use Twitter today. It is the same like we had federated chat with Jabber for 20 years now - and nobody uses it. The best implementations of it ended being the nonfederated ones - like Google Talk or I believe Whatsapp used that protocol. And apart from nerds and some engineers literally has no clue that something like XMPP even exists. People don't care about the technology, they care where they want to communicate with their friends and network. The Twitter issues are first and foremost human, business, management and social problems, not something you can throw some network protocols and technology at and declare it solved.
- lijogdfljk 4y ago/shrug, depends on how people view the problem. Smaller communities can be more focused and managed. Trying to get everyone in one place agreeing on one set of rules sounds impossible. At least federation has the potential to let groups exist differently as desired.
- phpisthebest 4y agoThat is the thing, people do not go to twitter to be in "Small Focused Community" They do it to interact with the globe, and the more people on that network the better it is. There are a million ways to create a niche site (like hacker news) that allows a Small Focused Community to interact, that is not a replacement for Twitter
- listless 4y agoIt reads like a hostage letter - "Everything is fine, please don't remove our app from your store".
- whateveracct 4y agoSo what is different? Are there concrete goals?
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y agoWell, now instead of censoring people who spout right-wing hate speech and falsehoods on the regular, Elon is censoring people who say mean things about him or are known left-wing pundits while re-instating the right-wing hate mongers. Concrete goals are apparently to stick it to the woke, or something.
- andreyk 4y agoTLDR: this post is entirely to calm advertisers, it can be boiled down to "don't worry, we still prioritize brand safety like before". It does have this gem in it: "What has changed, however, is our approach to experimentation. As you’ve seen over the past several weeks, Twitter is embracing public testing. We believe that this open and transparent approach to innovation is healthy, as it enables us to move faster and gather user feedback in real-time. We believe that a service of this importance will benefit from feedback at scale, and that there is value in being open about our experiments and what we are learning. We do all of this work with one goal in mind: to improve Twitter for our customers, partners, and the people who use it across the world." What a weird thing to say... A/B tests are a thing, does anyone buy that experimenting with new things by rolling out new features to all users at once is a good strategy?
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago> this post is entirely to calm advertisers Regulators, too [1]. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/a07ca1ae-9f9a-46ee-9457-27bb30e18ed2 https://www.ft.com/content/a07ca1ae-9f9a-46ee-9457-27bb30e18...
- dev_tty01 4y agoYes, but "[w]e believe that a service of this importance will benefit from feedback at scale" will just make advertisers unhappy. To state the obvious, I don't think they are reading the room very well...
- jzelinskie 4y agoTwitter was previously doing A/B tests. Spaces, communities, downvotes, circles, and even moderation were applied only to a subset of accounts while they actively experimented. The new policy is an objectively less scientific approach to testing functionality than what was occurring before.
- generalizations 4y agoIt's not like A/B tests approach anything like the rigor that we expect from actual science, though.
- Aaronstotle 4y agoHard to take this seriously when the CEO keeps peddling right-wing conspiracy theories and calling out advertisers who have reduced their spend due to concerns about the platform.
- serverholic 4y agoOut of curiosity, what conspiracies is he peddling?
- BoxFour 4y agoOff the top of my head: He was peddling the conspiracy that Paul Pelosi was attacked by a spurned lover. He had to quickly walk that one back by deleting the reply and pretending it never happened.
- alexandre_m 4y agoNo, he said "more than meets the eye" because of contradicting news reports in the medias early on when the story broke, with many unknowns and incoherencies remaining today. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/miguel-almaguer-remains-absent-from-nbc-since-stunning-paul-pelosi-attack-report-was-mysteriously-retracted/ar-AA14EL0R https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/miguel-almaguer-remains...
- frob 4y agoThe biggest problem Twitter now has is that I'm not fully convinced someone didn't just pay $8 to publish this as Twitter.
- bastardoperator 4y agoTwitter is totalled. There is no recovery or any amount of repair that will convince anyone that the platform is worth consuming or saving.
- seydor 4y agoDon't you think the news of its death are greatly exaggerated?
- HappySweeney 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- squaredot 4y agoLooking at the speed with which this post goes up the HN page, I would say that Twitter is still very relevant.
- sosodev 4y agoSome people enjoy observing dumpster fires
- smcl 4y agoThis is assuming the old "no such thing as bad publicity!" adage is correct and can only mean good things for whoever the subject is. However recall that any new revelations around Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX similarly shoot up the front page and get a load of clicks, eyeballs and comments ... so clearly there's a limit to where this applies. Twitter isn't in the position FTX is in, but I personally believe that the publicity that Musk and Twitter have been getting over the last month has been nearly universally bad. There is little value in increased user engagement if so much of it is centered around the catastrophic Twitter management and Elon Musk or Tesla parody accounts, particularly if there fewer companies interested in advertising to those users.
- 4y ago
- monero-xmr 4y agoFirst Twitter was going to crash in a week, then it was everyone would flee to Mastodon, now it’s that all the advertisers would leave. Maybe Twitter really didn’t need 7500 people, and maybe having more voices speak is a good thing (there is always block button), and maybe advertisers won’t flee forever. That seems more likely to me than Twitter imploding.
- eatonphil 4y ago> now it’s that all the advertisers would leave. This part anyway is not really hypothetical. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139180002/twitter-loses-50-top-advertisers-elon-musk https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139180002/twitter-loses-50-t...
- MangoCoffee 4y agoTwitter cutting down the bloat and going start up mode is probably the best thing. Twitter before Musk isn't any better than after Musk.
- YokoZar 4y agoTwitter had been posting profits since 2018, with the exception of last quarter (billion dollar lawsuit payout) and Q2 2020 (pandemic start) https://www.statista.com/statistics/299119/twitter-net-income-quarterly/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/299119/twitter-net-incom... Post Musk, Twitter's debt was already going for 70 cents on the dollar, and that's before the news of this week
- linasj 4y agoTwitter after musk is welcoming misinformation https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63796832 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63796832 - this means worse.
- unconed 4y agoDon't be ridiculous. Claims that were classified as COVID misinformation include: - surgical masks don't work against aerosol viruses - lockdowns and curfews will not stop covid - natural immunity due to prior infection is more effective - mRNA shots don't stop transmission - mRNA shots don't stop infection - mRNA shots cause myocarditis One by one these have been revealed as true, with naysayers looking like ass-covering idiots, or worse, paid shills for big pharma. If at this point you still have any faith left in the biomedical establishment, the one who doesn't belong on Twitter is you, because you will hysterically fall for the next big thing just the same.
- lcnmrn 4y agoI recently introduced Subreply 9.0 with super fast, sub 100ms response times. Beat that, Elon!
- kilroy123 4y agoLet's be honest – Musk doesn't know what the hell he is doing here.
- qwertox 4y agoThe worst thing is that he's getting angry over it and walking into the open arms of the Republicans instead of staying neutral.
- lijogdfljk 4y agoI'm starting to question how much he has ever. Has something changed with him? Or has he always been like this? If it's always been this rash, hasty and questionable then i can only imagine the real heroes are the people around him who managed to refine what he says and wants into tangible, achievable and coherent goals. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his actions these days, it does at least seem a significant departure from how the public perceived his actions in the past. Over the past few years his actions have steadily grown more.. loud, at the very least. .. It's.. interesting.
- prawn 4y agoNot sure if this will be shareable/readable, but I thought this piece was interesting: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narcissism-radicalization-maelstrom/sharetoken/ZiK353PYOIUV https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narci...
- martythemaniak 4y agoI think what's changed is that Twitter is 1) an established thing, rather than something Musk built up and 2) not really tech. Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Co have ambitious objectives with clear right/wrong answers. You put something in orbit or don't. Your car goes 500km with 70kWh of energy or it doesn't etc. You can inspire smart engineers to work hard to meet ambitious goals that require creative thinking. Twitter has none of that, it is more like a club. Having the loudest speakers or brightest lights isn't going to make your club the best club. There is a certain baseline of technical competence required, yes, but mostly its about attracting the right crowd (being extra nice to some people, kicking others out) and making sure everybody has a good time. Musk might have actually succeeded with this using his previous person, but his new culture warrior schtick isn't gonna work.
- NelsonMinar 4y agoIsn't this an outright lie? "First, none of our policies have changed." I don't mean just generally. Specifically, their policy around Covid misinformation changed November 23. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/29/twitter-stops-policing-covid-19-misinformation-under-ceo-elon-musk.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/29/twitter-stops-policing-covid...
- Communitivity 4y agoI do not see how they can say they still prioritize broad safety when there is reportedly only one person left on the child safety team.
- _0ffh 4y agoWell, whatever the team was doing before, it seems like their effectiveness has increased quite a bit without the missing team members. In the past, exploitation victims had to literally sue Twitter to take down explicit material, because a "review" could not "find a violation of [their] policies" [1]. Now "the three biggest hashtags used by child abusers selling child sexual abuse material on Twitter have virtually been eliminated" according to a human trafficking survivor advocate [2]. They have also made it easier for users to flag such content. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/minor-lawsuit-twitter-explicit-video-court-2021-1?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/minor-lawsuit-twitter-explic... [2] https://twitter.com/elizableu/status/1594139581045428224 https://twitter.com/elizableu/status/1594139581045428224
- Ardon 4y agoIt should be noted that planning to take down those hashtags started months ago, and may not be to Elon's credit here.
- dorkwood 4y agoOne person for the Asia-Pacific region[1], not one person in total. [1]: https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-child-sexual-abuse-material/ https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-child-sexual-abuse-mater...
- noisycarlos 4y agoSo one person for 3 billion people. Got it.
- rcarmo 4y agoI thought they had sacked the entirety of the Trust & Safety team. Especially considered I got added to something like 30 spam DM threads over the last week, and that reporting them did exactly nothing.
- fortuna86 4y agoCrypto bots are also out of control.
- VikingCoder 4y ago> Our Trust & Safety team... remains strong and well-resourced... > ...impressions on violative content are down over the past month... I think both of those claims are demonstrably false.
- PM_me_your_math 4y agoCan you demonstrate them as such? And can you validate your demonstration by eliminating the content produced by bots and sock puppets?
- snapcaster 4y agoI see comments like this frequently on hackernews and i'm curious on your motivation. Do you actually use twitter so this comment isn't lining up with your expectations? Do you not use twitter and expect this person to justify their experience by doing further research? What is _actually_ motivating you to comment like this?
- PM_me_your_math 4y agoIn order presented: Yes. No. You mean, it is not obvious? I am motivated by curiosity. A claim was made that is not supported. It isn't unreasonable to request such a claim to be validated by demonstration. Personally, I have not seen an increase in "hate" or violence or bigotry or any other -ism or -ist. I've seen people disagree in a much more whole-hearted way, while at the same time, seeing prompts for reducing the strength of language. For example, you get a pop up if you write "I think you are stupid" but not "I think you are silly." Quid pro quo: what is _actually_ motivating you to comment like this?
- snapcaster 4y agoI guess it feels like this is just banter amongst bored people at work and demand for works cited comes off as sealioning or just maybe misreading the room
- arnvald 4y agoMusk's actions since joining Twitter board have been so erratic it's hard to believe a single word in this announcement: * first joined the board then quit immediately * made a purchase offer then almost immediately tried to withdraw it * fired people then tried to rehire some of them * claimed 20% of Twitter users are bots then let users decide to unban Trump * announced absolute free speech then got angry when advertisers used their free speech to tell him they don't like how he runs the company * allowed everyone to get verified checkmark then pulled it * supported unlimited free speech then started banning people saying parody needs to be marked explicitly, then banned parody accounts anyway And now they claim the moderation teams are well resourced and able to do their job just as before. How can anyone believe it?
- GaryNumanVevo 4y agoConcerning to say the least: https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-child-sexual-abuse-material/ https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-child-sexual-abuse-mater...
- tbrownaw 4y ago> Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Switching from normal bans to something even shadowier than ordinary shadowbans?
- Arubis 4y agoAs a reminder to developers and tech workers that are accustomed to the benefits of working in one of the more flexible and well-compensated fields for traditional employment, if Elon succeeds with his management style at Twitter—nay, even if he doesn't terribly and visibly fail—many folks managing large tech organizations and corporations in general will conclude that that management style is acceptable and sufficiently effective. tl;dr: if Twitter doesn't get seriously hurt over the medium and long term, this entire industry is going to be a lot less fun to work in as management concludes they can put the squeeze on.
- mhoad 4y agoProbably a good time to think about unionising then. https://techworkerscoalition.org/ https://techworkerscoalition.org/
- bink 4y agoReed Hastings has just called Musk brave and the most creative person. Marc Benioff recently tweeted not to underestimate him. Normally I'd doubt any executive could look at what Musk is doing as a positive for anyone, but maybe you're right and the wheels are starting to turn.
- staunch 4y agoThere's no way to run a platform supported by ads that upholds anything resembling free speech. The advertising model is Twitter's fatal flaw. It puts the fate of the platform in the hands of a tiny corporate mob that are themselves subject to larger mobs. If "the mission" was truly driving Twitter, they'd drop all advertising and build enough value that some decent percentage of users would pay for it. In a few years, with a lot of work, I believe they could build a $10+ billion/yr business using paid accounts and features. With zero advertising. Twitter is an incredible "channel" for information, marketing, customer support, etc. But unless they kick their addiction to ads, it doesn't matter if they do or don't believe in free speech, because their advertisers (customers) most definitely don't and they're in ultimate control.
- etchalon 4y agoAre there any social networks, in existence, at scale, which do not rely on advertising as their primary revenue source?
- Nextgrid 4y agoClosest thing to it would be WhatsApp, which during its early days charged a token sum to access and still managed to gain significant marketshare. Other than this I don't know - the problem with social media is that you need network effects to make the platform valuable - nobody is going to pay for an empty place, and similarly nobody will join because they'd have to pay (so the platform would need to provide value from day 1). Twitter is in a unique position when it comes to this - it already has the network effects and a significant userbase including influential people. This is why I'm also very excited about Musk's takeover of it. Do I agree with him about everything? Absolutely not - I think the man is unhinged. Yet, a stupid, ego-driven decision is our only escape from the cancer that is advertising.
- sjs7007 4y ago> Closest thing to it would be WhatsApp, which during its early days charged a token sum to access and still managed to gain significant marketshare. This was never really enforced.
- O__________O 4y agoTwitter ban me few years ago for not providing a phone number for SMS verification and that account is still ban. Literally only used that account to access another website, which I was not ban from and still use via direct login. Later, Twitter was discovered to be illegally using SMS numbers to profile users even though they explicitly stated they were not; they were fined for it. — Yet they have unban accounts for users that literally broke rules and were actual threats to safety of others. This linked blog post is full of half-truths, if not out right lies — and company is literally run by Elon, who has lied so many times about his plans for Twitter than it’s beyond me why anyone is still using it.
- latchkey 4y agoOur Trust & Safety team continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter's rules Should have prefixed that with "What is left of our trust & safety team..."
- TheRealDunkirk 4y agoHas anyone shown actual data that proves Twitter has dropped the ball on this front, despite all the raging commentary about how many people have been let go or left?
- throwaway290 4y agoTo me it was obvious without the numbers. Saw a spike in "hateful conduct and abusive behaviour" in replies on tweets by others, though I think it subsided again. A number of accounts went private. Myself got burned by using Twitter search in public places as innocent queries started returning porn media.
- TheRealDunkirk 4y agoIf we're just using anecdata, every single person I've seen comment about it on Twitter says nothing has changed. I haven't seen any difference.
- throwaway290 4y agoI don't see a point in asking someonee else what they think, my personal experience is enough for me.
- TheRealDunkirk 4y agoI reiterate that I was asking for actual data.
- 4y ago
- hn2017 4y agoTwitter 2.0 is not going well with advertisers and he knows it. This is a desperate plea. Will only get worse as more controversies arise https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/ https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-n...
- felipesoc 4y ago> First, none of our policies have changed. Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. They recently unbanned many controversial accounts based solely on Twitter polls. Who do they expect will believe these statements?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- threeseed 4y agoMusk also asked people to report suspected Antifa accounts to Andy Ngo a right-wing conservative journalist. All of whom have now been suspended despite there being no infringement on terms of service.
- UncleOxidant 4y ago> Musk also asked people to report suspected Antifa accounts to Andy Ngo a right-wing conservative journalist. Is there a source on that? Because if so, holy crap... but I'd like to see some evidence.
- threeseed 4y agohttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1596071799410003969 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1596071799410003969 And note how Musk through simply engaging with these people gives endorsement to this ridiculous and baseless link between pedophiles and left-wing accounts.
- DoctorOW 4y agoLooks to be the same source as was used in a sibling comment further up https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/ https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-n...
- josteink 4y ago> Antifa accounts. … All of whom have now been suspended despite there being no infringement on terms of service. Are we talking about the same Antifa? Political terrorists, violently attacking civilians for having opposing beliefs? If inciting real-world political violence and terror is not against the TOS, why were supposedly all those right wingers banned?
- Zigurd 4y agoThis is Eon's previous claim that "nothing has changed" rehashed. It is an attempt to gaslight advertisers; "Do you believe all the people complaining about Nazis, racists and misogynists that you see with your lying eyes, or do you believe our policy statement?"
- yalogin 4y agoNothing new here except that it's not signed Elon, which is a surprise to me. Looks like someone convinced him to put out a sane message out there placating advertisers.
- etchalon 4y agoI don't know why anyone would take seriously anything Twitter says, beyond acknowledging they said it. Everything is currently a moving target, and subject to their owner's whims.
- borbulon 4y ago> First, none of our policies have changed uh https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/covid19.html https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/covid19.html
- schemescape 4y agoThe policy is still there—-they just aren’t enforcing it. Corporate doublespeak at its finest.
- lesuorac 4y agoI feel like in any sort of legal setting this would go the same way as those "do X or resign" statements. It'd count as a policy change and "we accept your resignation" would count as a firing.
- fortuna86 4y agoIs a policy or a law that is not enforced even a law or policy? They are just words on paper then.
- cutemonster 4y agoAt least you can use it for selective enforcement
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- qwertox 4y agoI would really like to see a transparent result of the re-allow-Trump-poll. It might as well have been a bunch of bots.
- alkonaut 4y agoWe can only speculate what Twitter 2.0 will be but I suspect Twitter 3.0 will be a very small company trying to emulate Twitter 1.0.
- DesiLurker 4y ago^this should be goldplated.
- UweSchmidt 4y agoI think he'll make it. Not only does it look like Twitter will survive (if the mass-migration to another platform hasn't happened yet, when will it? If the site runs stable after the initial shock, why would it run less stable later?), it just might make Musk more powerful than we could ever imagine. Contrasting with other social media founders/owners he isn't shy to use the platform as a very personal thing, to actively shape the discussion and to pick and fight fights. The potential power he could potentially wield makes the purchase, as well as possibly running Twitter as a loss, worth it.
- chronic94038 4y ago> I think he'll make it. On what basis? Elon needs cash flow to pay the loans he took to buy Twitter. Banks don’t give a shit about politics, or mission, or popularity. Banks care about cash flow. Fact: advertisers (read: cash flow) are leaving Twitter. How will Elon pay off his loans?
- UweSchmidt 4y agoIt seems that he has about $200 Billion left, so I wouldn't worry too much about loans. https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=1b1e26227999 https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=1b1e26227999
- DesiLurker 4y agoSo you are suggesting He'll pay from his personal coffers? by selling tesla stock? thats not bad at all.
- UweSchmidt 4y agoWhat else to spend money on, than to ... influence Western culture and thought? If you only have a few billion you can buy a sports team, but if you have a few hundred, and still your youthful energy, what else could you do?
- SV_BubbleTime 4y agoAll the arrogant and uncited claims in posts like this... I would for once like to see some honesty. How many of you were saying "It's a private company, it can do what it wants!!" when it was a public company, and now it does what it wants... "It must be destroyed!!". Some of you have decent points... Others are insufferable arrogant assholes who know everything about everything. I would like someone to just please admit "I'm mad that Musk isn't using Twitter to suppress the people I don't like".
- _hypocrites_ 4y agoOh, you see that on HN every day through the downvoting system (and people checking your posting history). You don’t need Twitter for that vitriol.
- NaturalPhallacy 4y agoThis is one of the most refreshing comments on Musk since he suggested buying twitter, so of course it's about to fade out of existence.
- b0sk 4y agoThis is to appease Tim Cook. He just tweeted a video of him in Apple Campus
- MKais 4y agoMusk might be feeling the heat, among other things, from the EU's commissioner for internal market. https://twitter.com/ThierryBreton/status/1598015892457426944 https://twitter.com/ThierryBreton/status/1598015892457426944
- mrkramer 4y agoMastodon FTW
- jacooper 4y agoThese official statements are worthless when Elon decides everything based on a poll on his private account and by his circle of yes-men.
- Imnimo 4y ago>First, none of our policies have changed. Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Sounds like a change in policy to me.
- xyzelement 4y agoI read this as "we are maintaining our stance on what is and isn't acceptable (policy), we are tweaking how we respond to breaches (enforcement)"
- halfmatthalfcat 4y agoSo...status quo. This is what Twitter was essentially doing before, no?
- boplicity 4y agoIf I had the time and resources, I would build a Twitter clone and focus on just getting journalists, editors, reporters, etc on the platform. This is a powerful community that is quite established on Twitter, but I suspect they would be willing to migrate. Maybe something like, Manuscript Wishlist or QueryTracker, but specifically with a Twitter vibe.
- noncoml 4y agoSounds noble, but how would you earn their trust? Why would someone choose you over Musk? How would you ensure that in 5 years you will not sell out for big $$$ Not trying to be a troll, just genuinely asking as the answers may help someone who actually has the resources/time
- unsui 4y agoI think it's fair that it's not a difficult question: Why choose X over musk? - X isn't erratic and unpredictable/capricious - X has a solid track record of working with stakeholders and partners for win-win relationships - X doesn't lead one to discuss enforcment of morality clauses in contracts - X cares about best-practices for all stakeholders, including employees I could go on. At this point, almost ANYONE with a decent resume could be considered a better steward than musk
- joegahona 4y agoSomeone is trying this now: https://post.news/ https://post.news/
- cwkoss 4y agoIf you had your own twitter clone, what rule/process would you use for determining whether someone is a journalist/editor/reporter? Who should get the 'press' credential? So many people do only editorialism but call themselves journalists. Journalists who do great investigatory pieces are often independent or bounce between publications frequently. Lots of influencers posing at journalists to obtain a veneer of legitimacy. More money than ever influencing the content of what is being written about. Lots of uncredentialed civilians tweeting newsworthy things. Lots of 'news' services writing articles entirely sourced via tweet. I think the journalism industry is so blurry and chaotic right now, it's hard to know who is worthy of platforming.
- Barrin92 4y agoOne thing that I don't see talked about a lot is that this approach of experimentation which is effectively Musk conducting twitter polls, de-facto excludes the majority of users on the site. Surprisingly enough there's almost as many Japanese users as Americans on Twitter, not to mention everyone else, do they also get an input on the style of the public conversation? Apparently he's having trouble with the EU now as well because he's shuttered the office in Brussels. Is this a global public conversation, a local one, is everyone going to live by one standard, pretty hard to figure that all out if you've reduced the workforce to keeping the servers running.
- alfor 4y agoSo much hate here about Musk. I am very hopeful about the future of Twitter since Musk bought it. I can’t wait to see the evidence of corruption of Twitter, but it was already visible to all conservatives. I think that in a few months it will be already a great success.
- MentallyRetired 4y agoSorry, but no. I'm currently disgusted with Twitter's new management and their treatment of developers. It's the fediverse for me, thanks.
- malshe 4y agoProbably complete OT but is this correct grammatically? "First, none of our policies have changed." I think it should read "none of our policies has changed" instead. But I might be wrong as I get confused about this often.
- bombcar 4y agoThe policies? None have changed. There are zero changed policies. If there was one policy changed, that would be the one that has changed. But there are none that have changed. And of those that haven't changed, any two haven't changed. Those all sound correct to me. Zero is plural.
- malshe 4y agoThanks! TIL
- jcranmer 4y agoIn English, zero is grammatically plural. This isn't inherently true of all languages (that have a grammatical plural)--French, notably, treats zero as grammatically singular.
- malshe 4y agoThank you. Very interesting
- liquidify 4y ago"Freedom of speech but not freedom of reach". Sounds like tyranny of a different form. I believe that any platform that enjoys protections of the federal government should be required by law to have 100% open moderation policies, regardless of whether it is reach or speech. Those policies should be required to be "legally" oriented and not based on platform preferences. Let the actual police handle policing.
- ilkkal 4y agoAt this point, why care about Twitter?
- SilverBirch 4y agoPeople can read and parse this but face facts: This statement is worthless unless it's personally, and credibly, signed by Elon Musk.
- kgarten 4y agoGiving Elon's recent tweets about engagement and other metrics ... Sounds more like Twitter 3.0 to me ... Web 3.0 style. "the line goes up" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g Last time I logged in on Twitter, I got right extremists in my suggestions to follow. There are tons of right wing trolls on the platform (check #thenoticing hashtag), one cannot follow the protests in China due to pr0n spam. Yet, everything is FINE. We are just experimenting.
- theCrowing 4y agoI don't get it why lie in a PR fluff piece when everyone can see what's going on. Vox ......
- ilyt 4y ago> What has changed, however, is our approach to experimentation. As you’ve seen over the past several weeks, Twitter is embracing public testing. "Everybody calm down, the building is not on fire, this is just a test of our fire suppresion system. After we fired staff handling it. Also due to miscommunication someone filled it with diesel.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- _hypocrites_ 4y agoA lot of the dogpiling here is sensationalism fueled by the media. People have a very short fuse to comment and won’t bother doing research, or consider alternative viewpoints. It’s either left or right wing - and that sort of thing is blatant indoctrination into an incredibly narrow Overton window that did not come from within someone’s mind. It was put there, through constant reinforcement and propaganda.
- UncleOxidant 4y ago> Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. This is the only part of the statement that might possibly be referring to the algorithms. I think the worst thing twitter (and FB as well) has done in the past was to use algorithms to boost outrage and thus boost engagement. Are they saying they're going to change how this works? I'm skeptical.
- 0xbadcafebee 4y agoRemember, Americans: you don't live in a republic, you live in an oligarchy. When "the public conversation" is run by an oligarch, it becomes a bit more embarrassingly obvious.
- m-p-3 4y ago> Our Trust & Safety team continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter's rules. The team remains strong and well-resourced, and automated detection plays an increasingly important role in eliminating abuse. And yet they lock accounts for tweets like "Elon Musk should pay taxes"
- Razengan 4y agoMaybe online platforms should just stick to how social interactions work in meatspace: You choose where and with whom you want to converse. If you're indoors, you converse with your family/coworkers. If you're outdoors, you converse with friends or service providers + some public noise. Privately, people can talk about whatever they want. If someone starts bothering someone, the "host" of the place can ask them to leave, kick them out, or call the police. IRC almost figured it out like 900 years ago, but no then the centralized Hutts decided they want to control everything and "mOnEtIzE" all our interactions so now we have proprietary BS each trying to reinvent the damn wheel in its own broken half-baked way.
- bertman 4y ago>to improve Twitter for our customers, partners, and the people who use it across the world The order of the list says everything you need to know.
- bobcattz 4y agoI miss twitter with all the lefties
- ta890134 4y agoI think liberals should take this as an opportunity to do a fact check on themselves. They are mostly right when they say they are loosing political terrain with Musk at Twitter. I am m the opposite of a liberal, call it whatever you want. The Internet, media and corporate world is mostly always against my views. Guess what: I am still fine and believe it or not, despite two decades of massive liberal propaganda, my anti-liberal feelings are stronger than ever. So if you are liberal you probably believe your side is the good one and can hold against facts, contradictions and fights. You should not be afraid of loosing some ground. If you are right, the stupid, opposite and wrong ideas of anti-liberals can't win. You are safe. You seem to be afraid that allowing a bit of opposite speech will hurt your political stands. I would say: trust yourself, trust your beliefs and spread them intelligibly, and mostly, live by them.