Elon Musk now owns 9.2% of twitter...update.. will soon be the sole owner as Board of Directors accepts his purchase offer

ultimatebob

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Jul 1, 2001
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fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
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'If we don't force Twitter to speak the way we think it should, we won't have freedom of speech!' says resident genius.

Also really shows how delusional people on Twitter are. Like 20% of Americans use it at all, and of those the twitter lifers are clearly some fraction of that.
 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
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'If we don't force Twitter to speak the way we think it should, we won't have freedom of speech!' says resident genius.

Also really shows how delusional people on Twitter are. Like 20% of Americans use it at all, and of those the twitter lifers are clearly some fraction of that.
I signed back up to follow some good reporters and open intel platforms on the Ukr-Rus war. Most of twitter is shit. And, you'd have to pay me to follow Musk.
 

fskimospy

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Mar 10, 2006
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I signed back up to follow some good reporters and open intel platforms on the Ukr-Rus war. Most of twitter is shit. And, you'd have to pay me to follow Musk.
Yes, I use Twitter as a news source frequently. I have never tweeted though.

I will say this for him though, Musk might be a thin-skinned crybaby but at least he's taking a free market approach to it unlike so many others who want the government to force Twitter to carry their speech.
 
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cytg111

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Oh man ... Dont do it man, dont do it.

Aspergers syndrome on a trolling spree is really only funny for one person.
 
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Zorba

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Oct 22, 1999
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'If we don't force Twitter to speak the way we think it should, we won't have freedom of speech!' says resident genius.

Also really shows how delusional people on Twitter are. Like 20% of Americans use it at all, and of those the twitter lifers are clearly some fraction of that.
Twitter gets massively outsized discussion because that is the platform of choice for reporters.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
33,382
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Yes, I use Twitter as a news source frequently. I have never tweeted though.

I will say this for him though, Musk might be a thin-skinned crybaby but at least he's taking a free market approach to it unlike so many others who want the government to force Twitter to carry their speech.

There should be a serious discussion throughout society and the halls of Congress regarding free speech and the internet.
Are platforms like Twitter not the modern equivalent to the public square? Are they not THE place where speech is heard, first and foremost?
What speech can be delivered without the utility service provided to citizens by the modern public square?

OTOH, we're starting to see serious ill side effects of free speech when it delivers propaganda and the masses believe it over reality.

The fate of social media, like Twitter, means a lot to the future of our society. And I am not certain what the correct course of action should be, other than it needs careful study and due consideration.
 

fskimospy

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Mar 10, 2006
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There should be a serious discussion throughout society and the halls of Congress regarding free speech and the internet.
Are platforms like Twitter not the modern equivalent to the public square? Are they not THE place where speech is heard, first and foremost?
Absolutely not. The public square was exactly that - property maintained by the public. Twitter is private property, period. Outside of a few very narrow exceptions it is unconstitutional for the government to make any attempt to control what is published on their site.

The first amendment was explicitly created to protect the country from this.

What speech can be delivered without the utility service provided to citizens by the modern public square?

The idea that if a private service becomes sufficiently popular it loses the protection of the constitution is a very dangerous idea.

Utilities like water, electricity, etc. are considered utilities because they are requirements for every day life and not easily or efficiently replicated. Society does not benefit from having 10 separate water pipes to your house, for example. Twitter on the other hand can be (and has been!) repeatedly replicated, and there are many, many alternatives for communication available to everyone.

OTOH, we're starting to see serious ill side effects of free speech when it delivers propaganda and the masses believe it over reality.

The fate of social media, like Twitter, means a lot to the future of our society. And I am not certain what the correct course of action should be, other than it needs careful study and due consideration.
The answer is simple - they are private actors protected by the first amendment the same as anyone else and we should never change this...ever. If you think otherwise ask yourself this - if suddenly the government could control the content of what is allowed on social media who do you think would be most willing to use that power? You don't have to look any further than Florida to see the answer to that.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,992
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There should be a serious discussion throughout society and the halls of Congress regarding free speech and the internet.
Are platforms like Twitter not the modern equivalent to the public square? Are they not THE place where speech is heard, first and foremost?
What speech can be delivered without the utility service provided to citizens by the modern public square?

OTOH, we're starting to see serious ill side effects of free speech when it delivers propaganda and the masses believe it over reality.

The fate of social media, like Twitter, means a lot to the future of our society. And I am not certain what the correct course of action should be, other than it needs careful study and due consideration.

This shit isn't hard. We're talking about private companies. You have NO constitutional right to use their platform. They as a private company are not required to give you access, keep what you say visible, publish whatever you say etc, etc, etc.

This idiotic idea that social media should be treated differently than other forms of media because internet needs to die.
 

Juiblex

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Sep 26, 2016
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He was probably better off just investing in Gab or other social media platforms which actually practice free speech rather than trying to change Twitter...
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
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He was probably better off just investing in Gab or other social media platforms which actually practice free speech rather than trying to change Twitter...
Twitter absolutely practices free speech - some people are just confused as to what free speech is.

For example people who say Twitter shouldn't ban people or delete tweets or whatever are essentially saying they wish to violate Twitter's right to free speech.
 
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VW MAN

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He was probably better off just investing in Gab or other social media platforms which actually practice free speech rather than trying to change Twitter...
Look at this moron proudly proclaim he does not know what free speech is!!
 
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fskimospy

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Look at this moron proudly proclaim he does not know what free speech is!!
Because you believe in free speech you should have to put a sign on your lawn that says anything I want it to say, no matter how vile, stupid, or hateful.

What's funny is that conservatives don't seem to understand the extremely obvious reason why right wing 'free speech' twitter clones fail. They fail because the bans and tweet deletions are what normal consumers want so that the place doesn't get too toxic.

When you make a Twitter clone that's all about attracting those castoffs what you end up with is a service full of racist, antisocial shitposters, and the average person wants nothing to do with that so they avoid the service. Amusingly, generally speaking the Twitter castoffs don't like these sites either because the antisocial shitposting was what they liked and all their normie targets are gone.
 

Moonbeam

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Because you believe in free speech you should have to put a sign on your lawn that says anything I want it to say, no matter how vile, stupid, or hateful.

What's funny is that conservatives don't seem to understand the extremely obvious reason why right wing 'free speech' twitter clones fail. They fail because the bans and tweet deletions are what normal consumers want so that the place doesn't get too toxic.

When you make a Twitter clone that's all about attracting those castoffs what you end up with is a service full of racist, antisocial shitposters, and the average person wants nothing to do with that so they avoid the service. Amusingly, generally speaking the Twitter castoffs don't like these sites either because the antisocial shitposting was what they liked and all their normie targets are gone.
Sounds like assholes are unhappy when they don't have someone to shit on.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
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I sure wish Musk wasn't a fucking asshole. I'd really like to buy a Tesla
I'd like Tesla to get their build quality shit figured out before buying one. But we're looking at rural land for our next home and I have a feeling I will end up being a starlink customer.
 
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Homerboy

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I'd like Tesla to get their build quality shit figured out before buying one. But we're looking at rural land for our next home and I have a feeling I will end up being a starlink customer.

yeah - that's true too. Not the best cars. But then again, what car is good quality? They all suck
 
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brycejones

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Oct 18, 2005
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yeah - that's true too. Not the best cars. But then again, what car is good quality? They all suck
Honestly I have been pretty happy except for my Passat which suffered a painful death due to electrical issues. Our sienna is at 108000 with only normal replacement items needed and one of our cx-9s is at 158k with no major issues.