Elon Buys Twitter [LOCKED DUE TO POLITICS AND INSULTS]

[Newton]

I feel like hes in for rude awakening perhaps worse then the Manufacturing issues he always talks about.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

I feel like hes in for rude awakening perhaps worse then the Manufacturing issues he always talks about.

Perhaps, but if the trend continues he will learn his lessons and develop the best social media platform in the world.

 

[JBee]

Free speech isn't as free as you think if it's just regurgitating bias from your own group. Brainwashed is still brainwashed.

From what I can tell from reading between the twitter lines from EM is:

1) Twitter will become private and no longer subject to the whims of other interest groups - except EM as "Ultimate Moderator", but in a way you can see how it works
2) The advertising funding model will be replaced with a subscription model
3) That will force users to be "verified" to the extent they are identifiable, meaning there are consequences for illegal acts

The "identifiable" part is critical to keep things civil. Free speech is bound to the person using it and comes with legal consequences.

The question then becomes if the legal system can moderate and cope with it, and if laws will be inacted to stifle information flow.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

I just don't get it. When Elon says he wants to improve/protect "freedom of speech" on Twitter, what exactly does he mean? Open source algorithms would be great. Sure.

But it sounds more like he wants to allow people to spread false information and hate speech. How is he planning to tackle these issues? Twitter has rules, and people who violate the rules need to be banned. That's pretty non-negotiable, and filtering the world's tweets looking for violations is notoriously difficult...near impossible.

Elon needs to be more clear on what changes he wants to make and how the twitter terms of use may or may not change. Until he clarifies this, people are going to keep freaking out.

The challenge is, what is misinformation? What is hate speech? We all have standards, and they are all different.

For a specific example, the action that lead to Elon buying Twitter was the suspension of the Babylon Bee for their post which awarded "Man of the Year" to Rachel Levine. It's a perfect example, really, of the heart of the discussion on free speech. Some would call that post hateful. Some would call it humor. Some would say the topic of gender identity is closed, and all identities must be accepted; others would say we need to discuss it further or reject the idea all together.

Elon clearly falls on the spectrum of allowing open discussion, and as one of the biggest internet trolls there is, he loves his humor. So I would expect him to push Twitter to a more open forum, the town square as he said.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Free speech isn't as free as you think if it's just regurgitating bias from your own group. Brainwashed is still brainwashed.

From what I can tell from reading between the twitter lines from EM is:

1) Twitter will become private and no longer subject to the whims of other interest groups - except EM as "Ultimate Moderator", but in a way you can see how it works
2) The advertising funding model will be replaced with a subscription model
3) That will force users to be "verified" to the extent they are identifiable, meaning there are consequences for illegal acts

The "identifiable" part is critical to keep things civil. Free speech is bound to the person using it and comes with legal consequences.

The question then becomes if the legal system can moderate and cope with it, and if laws will be inacted to stifle information flow.

I think so. I think the future of the internet will have less anonymity for major sites like Twitter or FB. You can say what you want, but the world will know you said it.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

While I would appreciate it being open source, the spammers will not be, so they have an advantage.

My spouse has built defensive software for her work. She absolutely hated doing it, who wants to be corporate building their ice? But eventually she turned it into a crafty plan to snag the baddies and use their input to guide the system.

See, them not knowing why their bots were failing meant that gives more time for the humans on the moderation side to catch up. It's far too easy for the bad actors to just create spam that someone has to clean up and use that to keep ahead of being moderated for their bullying and abuse.

-Crissa

It's a good point, but I suspect some clever minds can think of solutions. I suspect the "small fee" model he suggested will be a part of it. Bot spammers likely won't give credit cards, and you could easily ban a card.

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

My opinion is Twitter is a holy grail type of treasure chest of conversations owned by Musk to now use to train a "Human AI" such as Optimus ROYALTY FREE. The vast amount of data he now owns and has disposal to is just about unimaginable outside perhaps the government. I really am surprised that nobody has mentioned or reported on this fact yet. Oh and yeah, he might want to make it "better" as a side project.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Direct from his mouth:

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

My opinion is Twitter is a holy grail type of treasure chest of conversations owned by Musk to now use to train a "Human AI" such as Optimus ROYALTY FREE. The vast amount of data he now owns and has disposal to is just about unimaginable outside perhaps the government. I really am surprised that nobody has mentioned or reported on this fact yet. Oh and yeah, he might want to make it "better" as a side project.

Interesting point. There could be something there. I do genuinely believe he's passionate about free speech, however, and he believes it is being legitimately threatened.

 

[JBee]

BTW my above post isn't condoning EM's activities at this time, I'm only saying out loud what I think his plan is.

For example twitter by default is only available to those that can read and write, that have access to the Internet and in this next phase "afford" the $2 to be heard.

That excludes a lot of people on the planet, even in the USA. I know for one I wouldn't subscribe unless substantial and meaningful features are added that I can't find for free elsewhere.

But having money has always amplified the richest voices, so nothing has changed. The question is how to change that...it's much bigger than a Twitter buyout. Tesla reward points? Hmm...

 

[rr6013]

This is EM‘s thrust behind every challenge that he approaches. Twitter will disintermediate to lower cost, increase access and fundamentally disrupt a bunch of industry not just online. More ways other than Twitter will exist but none cheaper.

 

[TruckElectric]

It's a good point, but I suspect some clever minds can think of solutions. I suspect the "small fee" model he suggested will be a part of it. Bot spammers likely won't give credit cards, and you could easily ban a card.

 

[JBee]

This is EM‘s thrust behind every challenge that he approaches. Twitter will disintermediate to lower cost, increase access and fundamentally disrupt a bunch of industry not just online. More ways other than Twitter will exist but none cheaper.

All I see is lots of "free beer"?

But seriously, EM does have a habit of disrupting industries by freeing them from convention, which in turn reduces cost and adds customer value.

So maybe Twitter will follow the same progression, and resolve these issues at a lower cost, to the point that a subscription model will work instead. I mean technically there's nothing wrong with bundling subscriptions to Starlink and other ISP services.

But as stated elsewhere here on the forum I believe this is just the first step to crypto, block chain based contracting and ID, information services provisioning and managing compliance inside of those areas. Hopefully, "hands off" information moderation doesn't become full blown information modulation, by which information flow is only validated by group filters and subsequently loses any meaningful real world value to derive some truth.

 

[TruckElectric]

Hang on Elon! Gonna be a wild ride!

 

[Crissa]

The challenge is, what is misinformation? What is hate speech? We all have standards, and they are all different.

Yes, of course we do.

That doesn't mean we don't have standards at all, though. We all define murder differently, too. That doesn't mean we disallow murder cases.

And the Babylon Bee violated the Terms of Service. It's not funny, or a joke, to the people being abused or killed. And it's not a joke when it's exactly what the abusers are piling onto people seriously.

-Crissa