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Elon Musk buys Twitter

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Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Your salt about this is entirely to predictable and boring. If this were more someone who follows your ideology you'd be singing their praises and supporting this.
No. I wouldn't. I don't think any platform like Twitter should be owned by a single person or entity regardless of their opinions or politics. It will lead nowhere good and it's certainly not in the best interest of the platform itself.
 

BeardGawd

Banned
So you genuinely believe that in his heart of hearts the richest man in the world gives two craps about what a bunch of idiots are saying on social media? And that he is willing to spend billions of dollars in his own money out of the goodness of his heart to protect the free speech of the masses (despite this not being a free speech issue)?


Come on Deep. You're smarter than that. This is about money. Not "freedom". Even if his offer is genuine and he actually did gobble up Twitter all he would do is perform surface level reforms that look good but don't actually change anything in order to drive that price even higher and then within a year or two pass it along for massive profit.


Because as you said he is a smart guy which means he's smart enough to know that unfettered free speech like the kind he is preaching about would tank the company.
Look you can doom and gloom all day but any improvement is better than no improvement. If his involvement ignites a positive change in Twitter why shouldn't he profit from it?
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Musk is not trying to tank Twitter he's trying to jack the stock price up as high as he can while boosting his public image by pretending to care about the little people and then he's going to dump his portion for massive profits with a "hey guys I tried! *shrug*" and then he's going to lay down on the enormous pile of cash that he just made from this little stunt.
I think he sees profit in it. I also think Elon is wired differently in that he wants to flex on his haters. I don’t think he’ll get satisfaction from “free speech restoration” but I think he will knowing he caused people he doesn’t like and who don’t like him lose sleep at night. And I’m not even talking about random users, but journalists and reporters of publications who take shots at him every chance they get. Causing them to meltdown would be worth every penny to Elon.
 
Explain... I bet you think the fundamentalists and ministers of truth do, right?

Individuals express themselves without gov interference or regulation, with exceptions outlined by the government. Yay I win.

It has nothing to do with twitters algorithms and them being open source. That is not freedom of speech.
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
It’s far, far more profitable for Elon to focus on Tesla and SpaceX than some hypothetical pump and dump scheme. His current Twitter holdings are trivial.
My opinion is that it's more of a PR thing and an ego thing with profit being the measure of how well he did. He wants to thumb his nose at the people who he doesn't like and doesn't like him. He is just doing it under the cover of "free speech" to score points.

I think he sees profit in it. I also think Elon is wired differently in that he wants to flex on his haters. I don’t think he’ll get satisfaction from “free speech restoration” but I think he will knowing he caused people he doesn’t like and who don’t like him lose sleep at night. And I’m not even talking about random users, but journalists and reporters of publications who take shots at him every chance they get. Causing them to meltdown would be worth every penny to Elon.
Exactly. 100% this.


Musk doesn't give a watery fart about "free speech" on Twitter. This is him wanting to flex on his detractors. Everything else is theater.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
My opinion is that it's more of a PR thing and an ego thing with profit being the measure of how well he did. He wants to thumb his nose at the people who he doesn't like and doesn't like him. He is just doing it under the cover of "free speech" to score points.
He acquires an influential platform he uses every day if the bid succeeds, and he makes PR gains as a free speech advocate if the bid fails. Either is more valuable to him than <$1 billion.
 

xandaca

Member
This is where we are doomed if we don't wise up.

Free speech is now a platform "of the right," when it used to be a platform for all 10+ years ago outside the extreme fringes nobody paid attention to other than to point and laugh at.
Baddie GIF by Giphy QA
I didn't say 'free speech', I said 'in a direction more favourable to the right', reflecting the concern I'm seeing on left-leaning sites that a Musk-controlled Twitter would start purging left-wing opinion. My point is about the hypocrisy of people who celebrate perceived censorship on one side, then become aggrieved when they fear that same censorship might fall on them. I did not say free speech was a left or right value, as the present right are just as guilty as the present left, albeit with the left providing the most pertinent example in this case.
 

NickFire

Member
He acquires an influential platform he uses every day if the bid succeeds, and he makes PR gains as a free speech advocate if the bid fails. Either is more valuable to him than <$1 billion.
I would add to what you said. I think he makes PR gains whether he succeeds or fails. I also think Tesla gets a few more customers from people who might have previously looked at just a couple of more "traditional" US car companies from the PR regardless.
 

ManaByte

Banned
I didn't say 'free speech', I said 'in a direction more favourable to the right', reflecting the concern I'm seeing on left-leaning sites that a Musk-controlled Twitter would start purging left-wing opinion. My point is about the hypocrisy of people who celebrate perceived censorship on one side, then become aggrieved when they fear that same censorship might fall on them. I did not say free speech was a left or right value, as the present right are just as guilty as the present left, albeit with the left providing the most pertinent example in this case.
Free speech is considered hate speech to the regime in control of Twitter.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I didn't say 'free speech', I said 'in a direction more favourable to the right', reflecting the concern I'm seeing on left-leaning sites that a Musk-controlled Twitter would start purging left-wing opinion. My point is about the hypocrisy of people who celebrate perceived censorship on one side, then become aggrieved when they fear that same censorship might fall on them. I did not say free speech was a left or right value, as the present right are just as guilty as the present left, albeit with the left providing the most pertinent example in this case.
But he is advocating for the values we once held prior to the extreme Overton shifting the past 10 years. If you are not corelating that as being "more favorable to the right" then why even mention that?
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
He acquires an influential platform he uses every day if the bid succeeds, and he makes PR gains as a free speech advocate if the bid fails. Either is more valuable to him than <$1 billion.
True. The numbers may not have as much personal value to him as the things you listed though I will concede that.
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
So explain, what you mean "more favorable to the right".

Since his platform as been free speech, and checks & balances to ghost editing and moderation.
I don't want to catch a ban for politics so all I will say is that his proposals on paper would fling open the doors of misinformation and "alternative facts". Which obviously helps both sides of the political spectrum, but it helps the right in particular given their recent history.


I'll leave it at that.
 
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xandaca

Member
So explain, what you mean "more favorable to the right".

Since his platform as been free speech, and checks & balances to ghost editing and moderation.

I didn't say what he's advocating for. I offered a hypothetical outcome reflecting the fears of one political side to highlight a hypocrisy. The left fears that Musk will censor them. That is hypocritical because many of them said that if Twitter was censoring the right, as was alleged, it was fine because Twitter is a private company and therefore free speech rules shouldn't apply, yet now they're crying oppression because they fear the same might happen to them.
 
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NickFire

Member
So explain, what you mean "more favorable to the right".

Since his platform as been free speech, and checks & balances to ghost editing and moderation.
I think what he means is a lot of people are projecting their behavior onto EM because they cannot fathom the possibility they were the bad actors all along, and the same people now assume that the roles will be reversed because they cannot accept that the roles should never have existed in the first place. It's pretty much impossible for the mob to believe that live and let live, or defend the right to say it, are actual beliefs that people still hold.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I don't want to catch a ban for politics so all I will say is that his proposals on paper would fling open the doors of misinformation and "alternative facts". Which obviously helps both sides of the political spectrum, but it helps the right in particular given their recent history.


I'll leave it at that.
"The left" isn't the harbinger of facts and non-misinformation either. So again, what is "more favorable to the right" other than fair practices to both?
 
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Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
"The left isn't the harbinger of facts and non-misinformation either. So again, what is "more favorable to the right" other than fair practices to both?
Nope. Not taking the bait.


Agree to disagree if you don't agree with what I said.
 

xandaca

Member
I think what he means is a lot of people are projecting their behavior onto EM because they cannot fathom the possibility they were the bad actors all along, and the same people now assume that the roles will be reversed because they cannot accept that the roles should never have existed in the first place. It's pretty much impossible for the mob to believe that live and let live, or defend the right to say it, are actual beliefs that people still hold.
Correct.

EDIT: Re-reading, I'd say three-quarters correct. I wasn't taking a stance on whether Musk actually supports free speech or not, simply pointing out the hypocrisy of those justifying censorship when it is seen to be applied to others, yet decrying it when the same rules are applied to them.
 
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So you genuinely believe that in his heart of hearts the richest man in the world gives two craps about what a bunch of idiots are saying on social media? And that he is willing to spend billions of dollars in his own money out of the goodness of his heart to protect the free speech of the masses (despite this not being a free speech issue)?

Elon has more backbone than you ever will.

I honestly don't care if he reforms or destroys twitter, he has already shown what a pathetic platform it really is. It is high time people realize how vulnerable these platforms are to financial takeovers, investor interests and the whims of the rich and powerful. Twitter should never have been treated as a motor for social change and public decision making and Elon is laying it all bare in the most marvelous fashion.

If he truly only wanted to make money, there are better ways for him to invest than twitter.
 
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DeaDPo0L84

Member
I don't want to catch a ban for politics so all I will say is that his proposals on paper would fling open the doors of misinformation and "alternative facts". Which obviously helps both sides of the political spectrum, but it helps the right in particular given their recent history.


I'll leave it at that.
Lmao bruh, the left has outright ignored, buried, banned, or fabricated MAJOR stories that would have influence in our politics, and that's just the last couple years.

I'm tired of people who lean a certain way politically pretending as if the "other" side is 100% full of carnies spinning conspiracy theories when most of what they shout about ends up being true but too late after mainstream media stays on spin cycle 24/7 to bury the stories.

This is why when you allow a echo chamber that thinks one way politically to determine what's "misinformation" we suddenly confirm today what was last year's conspiracy theory, it's bullshit.
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Elon has more backbone than you ever will.

I honestly don't care if he reform or destroys the platform, he has already shown what a pathetic platform it really is. It is high time people realize how vulnerable these platform are to financial takeovers, investor interests and the whims of the rich and powerful. Twitter should never have been treated as a motor for social change and public decision making and Elon is laying it all bare in the most marvelous fashion.

If he truly only wanted to make money, there are better ways for him to invest than twitter.
I have already covered on how I think money is not the only driving force behind this for Elon.



Edit: Thread is getting too political. I'm out.
 
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DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
No platform truly has free speech. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or even here on GAF. You can’t come on here and dox or threaten people or harass people. Nor should you be allowed to. But well run platforms do a good job of distinguishing actual toxicity from things some people just “find annoying.”

If Elon buys Twitter and it turns into a place where people can harass and bully with impunity that would be really bad. Doubt that will happen.

But if he restores sanity to discourse where “die, TERF!” isn’t considered hate, but “a man can’t get pregnant” is considered hate. At least the lines of right and wrong will be restored again. Because the lines on that platform aren’t even invisible. They’re scattered all over the place. There is no consistency at all on what you can and cannot say.
 

NickFire

Member
Correct.

EDIT: Re-reading, I'd say three-quarters correct. I wasn't taking a stance on whether Musk actually supports free speech or not, simply pointing out the hypocrisy of those justifying censorship when it is seen to be applied to others, yet decrying it when the same rules are applied to them.
We're still on the same page. None of us can really say what EM believes in his heart. I believe he is genuine but my belief does not equal fact.
 

Razorback

Member
My opinion is that it's more of a PR thing and an ego thing with profit being the measure of how well he did. He wants to thumb his nose at the people who he doesn't like and doesn't like him. He is just doing it under the cover of "free speech" to score points.


Exactly. 100% this.


Musk doesn't give a watery fart about "free speech" on Twitter. This is him wanting to flex on his detractors. Everything else is theater.

Musk seems singularly focused on doing whatever it is that makes humanity continue to prosper in the future. Be it by mitigating climate change making electric cars not only viable but superior to the alternative. By helping to solve the problem of having all your eggs in one basket through SpaceX whose objective is to build a self sustaining city on Mars. By developing sci-fi brain interface technologies that could possibly help humans be able to compete with Artificial Intelligence in the future. By actually making cool shit that makes the future exciting and worth looking forward too.

This is what he continuously goes on about every time someone asks him why he does what he does.

More recently he's been talking about the importance of free speech for a functioning democracy. He really believes it's the sort of pillar that might make civilization collapse if we disregard its importance.
Maybe he's wrong about that, but to think he doesn't mean what he says and that he only cares about money or his own ego is to fundamentally misunderstand the man.
 

NickFire

Member
Musk seems singularly focused on doing whatever it is that makes humanity continue to prosper in the future. Be it by mitigating climate change making electric cars not only viable but superior to the alternative. By helping to solve the problem of having all your eggs in one basket through SpaceX whose objective is to build a self sustaining city on Mars. By developing sci-fi brain interface technologies that could possibly help humans be able to compete with Artificial Intelligence in the future. By actually making cool shit that makes the future exciting and worth looking forward too.

This is what he continuously goes on about every time someone asks him why he does what he does.

More recently he's been talking about the importance of free speech for a functioning democracy. He really believes it's the sort of pillar that might make civilization collapse if we disregard its importance.
Maybe he's wrong about that, but to think he doesn't mean what he says and that he only cares about money or his own ego is to fundamentally misunderstand the man.
If we go back in time before everyone sat around the tv after work, you'd find countless people tinkering away at interesting ideas, some of which would change the world forever. He reminds me of those people, just on a scale that is borderline unfathomable when you see how much wealth he already amassed.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I see the usual suspects are bringing up the “bbbbut misinformation” argument. Again.
We are in a sad state of society, when one side believes that only the other practices that.
If Elon buys Twitter and it turns into a place where people can harass and bully with impunity that would be really bad. Doubt that will happen.
That quite literally happens now on there, innit.
 
Can anyone explain what he means?
There are limits to the number of shareholders a company can have before they are considered a de facto public company and then subject to all the requirements that a public company must comply with. I think it's 2000 people in the US. Though to be honest Twitter is large enough that I think it would have to comply with a lot of the requirements anyway, but I'm not an expert in this stuff.
 

Ogbert

Member
No. I wouldn't. I don't think any platform like Twitter should be owned by a single person or entity regardless of their opinions or politics. It will lead nowhere good and it's certainly not in the best interest of the platform itself.
You would give precisely zero shits if it was owned by a lefty progressive.

Jog on with your phony pearl clutching.
 

Catphish

Member
No. I wouldn't. I don't think any platform like Twitter should be owned by a single person or entity regardless of their opinions or politics. It will lead nowhere good and it's certainly not in the best interest of the platform itself.
I don't think the platform can get much worse than its current state.
 
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