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

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Comments

  • #12782
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,436 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    But it's fine for Elon to delete views he disagrees with though.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #12783
    plodder
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,050 ✭✭✭plodder


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124508872#Comment_124508872

    If aircraft ownership data really was public (and maybe it was, but no longer is) then I've no issue with journalists publishing it on X. It seems the Data Protection Commissioner thinks it should be private though.

    https://www.independent.ie/business/irish-business/access-to-private-plane-owner-data-restricted-on-privacy-claim/a/129662070.html

    I never said I was a free speech absolutist by the way - but yeah I do care more about being free to discuss topics like males competing in women's sport (which some classify as hate speech), than publishing personal information of anyone including billionaire public figures (whether they are hated or not)

    https://www.fieldfisher.com/en-ie/locations/ireland/ireland-blog/data-protection-office-issues-guidance-location-data

    “The opposite of 'good' is 'good intentions'”



  • #12784
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,673 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124508928#Comment_124508928

    No one's said you can't talk about that though. You're making up things to make it implied that you're being oppressed.

    Pretty much anyone is free to be an arsehole and people are free to call people arseholes. I find it that it's more like people don't want to be called arseholes for voicing silly opinions, that is the key problem.

    This is the old untrue adage that 'you can't say anything anymore' or 'they don't make comedy anymore' both untrue. It's just that younger people have a lower tolerance of bullshit from people who don't like change .

    But ya, oppressed.. or some other stuff.

    You have me muted so you won't see this because you don't enjoy having to face your own world outlook isn't actually shared by the majority of people. The world is full of people who just want to get on and live.



  • #12785
    eightieschewbaccy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,149 ✭✭✭eightieschewbaccy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124508928#Comment_124508928

    European data protection is very different to the US. Eg we by default hide whois ownership while the US doesn't, you have to pay extra. It was always perfectly possibly for any well known person to hide their plane ownership. There's literally companies that exist to do it.

    Anyway, Falcon Landing LLC is the shell company that owns Elon's jets according to the FAA, Falcon Landing LLC is a Musk company. It wouldn't be hard to obfuscate the information but he's chosen not to. So identifying the ownership wasn't remotely nefarious or illegal. You can search that company on the FAA and it lists each jet owned by him.

    So your soapbox topics is when free speech matters but activists combatting a totalitarian regime should be censored and silenced if requested by the regime. You think the greater public good is transgender people in professional sports and being as racist as one wants.

    Anyway, the reality is that other platforms are more appealing to activists in general going forward. Cause Musk will happily silence them when it suits. The reality is that X isn't remotely as popular as the platform that was Twitter. Sharing stuff that's posted isn't that big a thing any more. All of that is a reflection of him pretty much destroying a platform that was valuable for a time.



  • #12786
    plodder
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,050 ✭✭✭plodder


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124508873#Comment_124508873

    The only reference I can find to something like that (apart from the journalists mentioned above who all had their accounts reinstated) is this article in the NY Times.

    Where a number of "far right" activists claim they were censored.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon-musk-x-suppression-laura-loomer.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mFA.o-i_.5WKnqZO6QAz0&smid=url-share

    Mr. Musk has offered several clues to what happened, writing on X amid the feud that if powerful accounts blocked or muted others, their reach would be sharply limited. (Mr. Musk is the most popular user on X with more than 219 million followers, so his actions to block or mute users could hold significant sway.) He also suggested that he might have kicked some users off X’s premium program, which boosts the visibility of paying subscribers. Doing so would effectively curtail their reach and prevent them from making money on X.

    If that's what he did, then it's pretty unwise of him to get involved in stuff like that - not least that it makes the charge of censorship harder to counter.

    Either way, how does it affect me or any of the people I like to hear from? Not much at all.

    @listermint You're not muted. I just can't be arsed replying to your posts.

    “The opposite of 'good' is 'good intentions'”



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  • #12787
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,673 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509008#Comment_124509008

    Ya thought so.

    The reality of your outlook in a changing world .

    A world you can't slow down no matter how much you want to drag people back to the past. Maybe we can make people feel not themselves? Tiny ? Into the closest, we could make it illegal again for people to love someone else, perhaps we can put them in prison or chemically castrate then for crimes of just existing.

    It was all much better when you could 'say what you want' . Then like now you'd not get arrested for it ironically.



  • #12788
    plodder
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,050 ✭✭✭plodder


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124508983#Comment_124508983

    activists combatting a totalitarian regime should be censored and silenced if requested by the regime.

    I never said anyone should be censored. But, at least people in Turkey have some access to it, not like people in China, Myanmar, Iran etc as listed in the article below. Some posters here would like to see Ireland (and the EU) added to the list.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_X

    “The opposite of 'good' is 'good intentions'”



  • #12789
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,436 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509029#Comment_124509029

    Is this going to be like your absurd claim that people here want X banned or can you back this up at all?

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #12790
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,673 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509031#Comment_124509031

    To be fair. I did say it should be shut down. And I did give reasons for it, not with standing that it's being used to attack democratic process, it's creating CSAM, it's got no serious data governance policies and it's got no moderation policies, it's a completely unregulated company in 2026. And no other company would be allowed operate like this if that flute wasn't at the helm.

    His money and spectre dictates that he can operate this thing outside of most regulation.



  • #12791
    plodder
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,050 ✭✭✭plodder


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509031#Comment_124509031

    You asked me yesterday to quote where someone said that, which I did, including the date.

    Screenshot 2026-05-29 at 16.12.57.png

    Thanked by 11 people. So, I guess that means there's at least 12 people here who want to see it shut down.

    Okay, I'm out of here now. Until next time. Have a great weekend all!

    “The opposite of 'good' is 'good intentions'”



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  • #12792
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,673 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509047#Comment_124509047

    If a site operated exactly as above but it was 'left wing' you'd be calling your ministers to have it shut down daily.

    Luckyily for you any no right wing sites actually have to operate like normal companies with staff that have to do jobs like HR things and like you know the whole compliance thing. Mad stuff I know .

    Why is Twitter special in that regard ?



  • #12793
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,436 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509047#Comment_124509047

    You didn't and it doesn't. You pasted some text from who knows where.

    Posts can be thanked for various reasons.

    Odd that you don't link the post though. Why is that? Does it even exist? It's just text from who knows where.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #12794
    eightieschewbaccy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,149 ✭✭✭eightieschewbaccy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124509029#Comment_124509029

    You're making every effort to justify it. They're getting access to what is effectively a government censored platform. That's inherently in opposition to free speech and far more extreme than banning overly racist tweeters. It also means they will happily do it for other regimes when it suits. The analogy of the public square tends to fall apart at this point. Also I'd imagine anyone involved in activism in any of the countries you've listed is already using a VPN and bypass state blocking.

    So basically you don't mind censorship. Free speech can be limited in weirdly specific scenarios where nothing illegal or nefarious is going on. Equally it's fine if it's to avoid being blocked. But hateful behavior including when it's targeting individuals is fine. Just don't you dare share the readily available transponder of Elon's jets, that's just too far.



  • #12795
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,383 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124506210#Comment_124506210

    It might be nefarious on Musk's part and that wouldn't surprise me one little bit, but it could also be the same Musk's cack-handed management of the company and leaving decisions to his pet AI. I hadn't logged into Twatter for a few days only to also find my account permanently suspended on Thursday for "inauthentic behaviors".

    Now if I was one of the tsunami of accounts posting AI slop, or overtly aggressive bile, hardline political guff of any stripe, or just spamming etc, IE a huge chunk of the Twatterverse these days, I'd figure fair enough, but no. My Twatter account only posts/views/comments/follows on riveting stuff like cars, watches, science, archaeology, art and the like. Zero politics involved. I studiously avoid the For You feed and only read my Following timeline to avoid that guff*. Apparently according to the MusX-Bot 2000 this makes me guilty of "inauthentic behaviors", whatever the feck that means. Handy catch-all for them mind you. Maybe I should have been more political, aggressive and spammy? 😁

    *even though I try to avoid that daft crap on the platform it still sneaks in. Big shock.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #12796
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,436 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124510608#Comment_124510608

    Small thing but I'm pretty sure these companies want you to be posting AI slop. The AIs are supposed to replace us in a variety of things but they can't do that in their current form. They're free right now because we are training them. If you viral on Facebook, you can even get paid.

    I'm surprised you got suspended for essentially doing nothing.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #12797
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,383 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124510620#Comment_124510620

    For the craic I read up on their rules, including the "inauthentic behaviors" part and I honestly can't fathom the whys of it. Now I have positively rated their community notes calling out multiple examples of AI slop which has gotten ridiculous of late, so maybe you've a point. 😁

    Even there it was on scientific/historical stuff, not one political or fractious subject example and many notes were written by their own AI bot(irony all over the place). Like I say I avoid all that. I found it pointless any time in the past when I did engage on that score as 90% of the time you're dealing with foaming zealots of all kinds and/or frankly scarily stupid morons. Mostly American. Not a slight on Americans to be clear and it's majority a US site. I've found Americans just like any other group of people, mostly cool, with scattered idiocy. Though I would say America stands out in one respect; it has some of the most supremely confident in their own ignorance idiots on earth, or should I say online.

    Looking back on my recent timeline and posts/reposts/thanks it was all science, history, timepieces and "WTF were Ferrari thinking with their EV!??"😁 No bile in any direction. Hell even with Ferrari I said I liked the interior…

    I fired off an appeal for clarity so it'll be interesting to see what the bot says. I did note that even though I'm permanently suspended I would still be allowed to pay for a blue check mark. Maybe it's a plan to get more cash subs in? Suspend "normal" accounts and hope a percentage would pay the sub to get back in? Feck knows.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #12798
    kowloon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,186 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505883#Comment_124505883

    The value of X lies in being a town square for individual people with opinions. I can’t remember a single case where a corporation or any other kind of organisation posted something interesting on it. So, they are no loss, particularly the woke ones that gave in to activist pressure to leave.

    Half the good posts are replies to companies and other organisations.

    https://twitter.com/andrwfhenderson/status/1187386101960454146?lang=en


  • #12799
    plodder
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,050 ✭✭✭plodder


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124511575#Comment_124511575

    That's a good example of what I'm talking about. The reply/quote is sharp, but the original post is insincere corporate mumbo jumbo. BP won't be missed if they close their account.

    Just experienced something on X for the first time. I was blocked by someone who accused me of pre-emptively blocking them, and doing it because I obviously wasn't confident in my own position. Fairly direct form of projection there... I actually agree with Musk on downgrading prominent accounts that block people they disagree with. It's very sneaky and makes it much easier to spread lies and propaganda.

    I suspect the only reason that he hasn't banned the practice altogether (as he said he would) is that it's a valuable "tool" that's still open to radical activists and which keeps them on the platform.

    “The opposite of 'good' is 'good intentions'”



  • #12800
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,383 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124510620#Comment_124510620

    A follow up and on the doing absolutely nothing part. Got an email from Twatter late last night saying my appeal was reviewed and I hadn't violated any rules so my account suspension was lifted. Grand sez I, didn't bother logging back in(I wouldn't be on there much tbh), went to bed. This morning 8 hours later I awaken to another email from Twatter informing me I've been reported and permanently suspended again. Again with no explanation beyond "inauthentic behaviors"(read up on those and nope didn't break any of them).

    Some trick on my part to break their rules firstly while suspended and then asleep and not logged in. Must have been sleep twattering. 😂

    This reinforces my suspicion they're using AI bots for some stuff like this and the "I" part is debatable.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #12801
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,673 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124517968#Comment_124517968

    You'll notice zero loss in your life never perusing the site again.



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  • #12802
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,436 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124517968#Comment_124517968

    Maybe you weren't being controversial enough? Not posting enough? Not spending enough time on the site to consume advertising?

    Couldn't agree more on the last part of your post. The thing is clearly overhyped to kingdom come and far too few people are sceptical or asking questions about its rapid adoption. Even my own boss, a Chinese woman with a PhD who speaks fluent English, cannot write a simple email without having one of the damned apps open.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #12803
    eightieschewbaccy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,149 ✭✭✭eightieschewbaccy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124517962#Comment_124517962

    You can keep singing the merits but it's pretty clear that nobody is buying it with the exception of people with rather extreme views TBH.



  • #12804
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 41,968 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124518116#Comment_124518116

    They're dead wrong too, two popular accounts on X/Twitter are (or were) Garda Traffic and Dublin Fire Brigade

    I'm partial to your abracadabra
    I'm raptured by the joy of it all



  • #12805
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,383 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124518010#Comment_124518010

    Agreed. Over the last while I've really dialed back on my interwebs interaction as far as the "social" type stuff goes. Basically a couple of old school forums like Boards and Youtube(which I heavily curate). Gave up Arsebook many years ago and viewing it on a mate's phone recently the doomscrolling AI content/ad slop is insane. He's attached to it like a junkie and he's a middle aged fart(well FB seems to be aimed at them). Don't have tiktok, instagram, snapchat or any of those. Hell, I never had an Amazon account and long ago changed my search from Google to Duckduckgo. Twitter was about the last of the "mainstream" stuff and didn't post much on it.

    I can see why they're addictive, but no thanks very much. It's all gotten way too sleazy, manipulative and enshítified and I don't feel like giving any extra cash, no matter how small, to weirdo dangerous deviants like Musk, Bezos et al. I also gave up paid software, or rather the subscription software model. Sod that ripoff. So now it's either "legacy" software I bought outright before the sub nonsense took over(and works fine) or open source stuff. Luddite behaviour? Possibly, though I know a few people doing the exact same thing on the software front and I can see that backlash growing and in the young too. One indicator might be that something like 70% of all software piracy is with people under 35.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #12806
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,673 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124518153#Comment_124518153

    I'd garner not being able to move out of your parents or shared housing and everything corner you turn subscription to live poppin up. Pushes people to say fck it, I'm being robbed.



  • #12807
    Tony EH
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,960 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124517968#Comment_124517968

    But…"free speech" and all that stuff Eloon is supposedly for. 😂

    TBH, you're probably better off being locked out of it.



  • #12808
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,383 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124518534#Comment_124518534

    Too often, for too many Americans "free speech" is a catchall for your side being able to say what you like about anything or anyone without consequence, while the other side is painted as against free speech. They also tend to export this nonsense and/or are convinced it applies to places outside America. QV look how many Americans on a platform like X can't seem to get their head around the notion that other nation's laws and cultures are independent of theirs.

    Musk of course pushes this narrative hard any time he gets his arse handed to him by non US jurisdictions over his platform playing silly buggers with things like privacy and political interference. As I said earlier I avoid politics on X, don't follow anyone with flags in their bios(inc. those with interests I share), yet when such cases against X were in play that crap came onto my feed.

    Though note it's nearly always aimed at Europe/The EU. Musk never says a damned thing about nations like China or Russia who have banned his platform outright, or severely restricted it. Any time I have ventured into the For You section on X I got treated to quite the number of Kremlin mouthpieces who require a VPN to even post on the site. For the craic about a year ago I created a new account on a VPN and burner email and it was pretty clear the angle the algorithm was pushing, to a "new user" who hadn't posted anything.

    And it's daftly obvious too, at least to the non oblivious. Another angle is the US and Americans Versus Europe and Europeans narrative, heavily pushed on X for the last 18 months, but especially since Trump got in and started his bull in a china shop routine with "allies".

    X, The Town Square™ run by an authoritarian adjacent agenda driven oligarch.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #12809
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,436 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124518621#Comment_124518621

    They hate the EU because of its approach to regulation. It's the antithesis of what the US was founded upon, the idea that rich men should be able to do whatever it takes to become even richer. They can't lobby the EU the same way they can national governments. Russia and China are templates for what they want to do in the US. Also, China actually makes their stuff so antagonising them will stem the flow of red hats.

    I remember wanting to watch Harry Enfield's Dutch Policemen sketch while I was shutting down a machine at work. I opened an incognito window and watched it on YouTube. I click home (still not logged in) and I get recommended Katie Hopkins.

    The EU is strong enough to stand up to the US economically. Militarily, it might be soon if some people get their way. Bullies can't stand this, hence the drive to break up the EU. Thank God both of these creatures are severely lacking in the brains department.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #12810
    thenuisance
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 218 ✭✭thenuisance


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124518116#Comment_124518116

    I hung on on Twitter for a year and a bit after Musk took over. I don't like Musk at all - I've always viewed him as a fraud and a guzzler at the government trough - but sometimes you ignore that - after all I worked for Larry Ellison (last generations Musk). What tipped me over the edge was strange. I used Twitter primarily as a news aggregator and as a place to support my customers. Those two worlds never coincided - I didn't post much - responses to queries, product announcements etc. - and the people I followed would be tech and world news. Well over 80% of the stuff that came up on my feed I could see why it might be there and that was the case in the immediate aftermath of the takeover. I believe that the change came when I made a product announcement to which there was a flurry of (geneally favourable) reaction - it's a niche product so probably less than a hundred posts. Suddenly I was drenched in posts completely unrelated to either the people I followed or the posts that I made. It was almost as if Twitter suddenly noticed me and decided that it knew what I needed to see. It had that wrong - the amount in my feed nearly tripled and the numbers of useful posts more than halved. Twitter was no longer useful to me - I moved the support stuff to the website after announcing I was leaving Twitter. It all worked out fine. I think some people/organisations felt trapped in Twitter and it took longer to extricate themselves. I haven't looked at it in a long time - I miss the service that it used to provide - particularly as no-one has really filled that gap.



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  • #12811
    hold my beer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,349 ✭✭✭hold my beer


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124519180#Comment_124519180

    Bluesky is an almost carbon copy of early Twitter



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