So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX

The reality is that there's a very clear and present issue with white supremacist movements. The FBI ranks it as the number one terrorist threat in the US. Black supremacist movements are far and few between so it doesn't tend to rank among concerns for me, there's not a major amplification of black supremacy on Twitter, there is for white supremacists.

Now I suspect you'll go on a rant about BLM or something.

Purged account today, don't forget it updated TOS. Utter cesspit of bots, porn, Nazis and blue tick simps looking for crumbs from space karen. Good riddance to it. On bluesky for a while now, much nicer experience, plenty of people migrating, 1 million in a single day tells you what people think of twatter.

And as a person who left Twitter last year, the reason I left was because extremists were being promoted. There was not some deep conversation occurring, it was other extremists being given priority in responses. It's no different to a 4chan or stormfront conversation at that point.

Yes they do predate, but they are getting massively amplified.. thanks in part (a huge part) to badly regulated social media

The education system doesn't teach this stuff. I never learned this crap in school, did you? No.

I learnt history, science and facts in school. Not anti-vax quackery.

However your aunt is now an anti-vaxer due to social media. Your friend who didn't have a good lockdown is now a conspiracy theorist thanks to social media. Your other friend has start posting all this far right stuff online thanks to social media.

40% of Republicans in the US believed Bill Gates was going to track people via microchips in vaccines. You want to reform their entire education to reduce that figure slightly … or regulate social media more? Exactly.

Unregulated or deregulated social media is a dumpster fire, just look at 4chan.

It's really an astonishing coincidence isn't it, Musk has all sorts of fringe views, he buys Twitter, fires most of the staff, it then turns to **** and amplifies those fringe views.

Quick blame the .. spins wheel.. education system.

The governments of the world get together tomorrow, and they all decide that all schools will include on their curriculum much more focus on critical thinking, analysing disinformation, etc. Over decades there's a gradual reduction in the uptake of disinformation.

Oooorrr they just regulate social media now.

In 2015 you could type 9/11 into Youtube or Google and you'd get thousands of hits on 9/11 conspiracy theories, all at the top. Government hearings said "eh, change that BS", so they changed the algo's, hey presto a massive chunk of disinfo removed.

Both need to be done, but one is much more feasible to implement in the short and medium term than the other.

And to pre-empt, no this isn't about "censorship" or "deEp StatE miniStrY of TruTh" any of that lark, it's about reducing false and potentially dangerous information.

Some amount of horsesh1t being spouted here. "Liberals don't like it cos they have to encounter opposing viewpoints". That is literally the argument of a child and if you believe it you are a moron.

The fact is that people are streaming for the exits because Musk, in his divine wisdom, has made the user experience demonstrably worse in so many ways since he has taken over:

• Polluting the timeline with ads from extremely sketchy and disreputable companies
• The absolute proliferation of spam, crypto and porn bots - which is especially ironic given that one of Musk's original goals was removing the bots
• Destroying the very concept of the blue tick to where it's now usually the sign of some account spewing disinformation - this had serious consequences during the recent Hurricanes where fake news accounts with blue ticks were telling people lies about FEMA
• Promoting blue tick accounts in the replies above all others. Before Musk the most liked replies went to the top - these were typically the funniest or most intelligent responses. Now it's just a collection of awful takes - many simply trying to rage bait for engagement - which brings me to the next point
• Creating an structure where accounts are monetarily incentivised to generate engagement, via whatever necessary means. This is mean a proliferation of blue tick accounts pumping out low quality content designed to induce feelings of fear and anger.
• The complete gutting of the moderation department. People being abusive in replies is par for the course but that's minor enough compared to other issues - the site now allows literal Holocaust deniers (I have posted example of this in this very thread) and Hitler appreciators.
• Sticking most of the functionality of the Twitter API behind a paywall
• Removing the ability to see who liked a post or what pasts an account liked (The bots loved that one)

I don't think that he's made a single positive change to the site.

That is why people are leaving. His overt shilling for Trump was likely the final straw for many users.

That feature predates him

You forgot training of AI, which comes into effect today despite the GROK setting that the GDPR had issues with before?

This license authorizes us to make your Content available to the rest of the world and to let others do the same. You agree that this license includes the right for us to (i) analyze text and other information you provide and to otherwise provide, promote, and improve the Services, including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type; and (ii) to make Content submitted to or through the Services available to other companies, organizations or individuals, including, for example, for improving the Services and the syndication, broadcast, distribution, repost, promotion or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.

~ International TOS » https://x.com/en/tos#intlTerms

https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-terms-service

I'm not to worried about it, as I don't share personal content on the platform and I'm not a content creator. Already download my archive of data. Reports big demand for that at present and make take over the estimated 24 hours that it took for me. I will probably protect my account after the 29th.

Social media has been an important part of the rise of the far right though, and Musks version of Twitter has it front and centre.

Parler/TruthSocial were fringe far right versions that never had a strong userbase because the general public have no interest in being drowned in right wing fear about trans people or anti-vax nonsense every day of their lives. Musk has taken a popular social media site and transformed it into essentially another version of those, so it’s no wonder people are leaving in their droves. Everything is so much worse there now. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, the replies are filled with bots, porn, spam and shills - there’s no room for discourse there anymore, because there’s no moderation to speak of.

If you truly want genuine discussion then you should be in favour of moderation and terms of service that don’t allow discrimination, disinformation or hate speech. If you can’t get your point across without the above then you don’t have a point worth listening to. Twitter has abandoned moderation outside of the whims of its owner and as a result has become an unbearable cesspit and will only see more people leave for other platforms.

Also to apply you need to be a subscriber on X to DM the account your application.

Grok turns against Musk and labels him the culprit for spreading misinformation. Source Threads.

"Moving Off X: An Open Letter from UK Journalists" ~~ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dFfEZ8xl8GZChTl17FAoOghAQs-PFEaAyGH1y_vGk6E/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.682mjq1oo65y