Elon Musk Offers to Buy All of Twitter

[turbineseaplane]

Twitter is popular because people get something out of it.

If folks are proposing anyone do whatever they want (legally of course), don't be surprised if it's ultimately no longer the popular and influential place to be.

You're not going to have influential people interacting on there at all anymore if folks can bother them, be jerks, shout at them endlessly, lightly harass, etc -- without any recourse.

Essentially -- the platform dies if you start plucking off the desire for folks to be there - particularly influential ones.

So much of this is about certain types of people wanting to say whatever they want to anyone and everyone -- and their desire to have folks "have to listen to it"

A lot of people don't really "want that"

 

[SactoGuy18]

Twitter is popular because people get something out of it.

Twitter is popular because it was one of the very first social media services that became very widely used on cellphones. People were using it a lot by Spring 2007 when the iPhone started to reach retailers.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Twitter is popular because it was one of the very first social media services that became very widely used on cellphones. People were using it a lot by Spring 2007 when the iPhone started to reach retailers.

Being first doesn't guarantee success this long
There are many examples of that in tech & social - particularly in the smartphone era

People have continued to use it because they get something out of it and it's been continually embraced by those with influence and popularity.

To my point above - there are ways to kill that

 

[dk001]

This feels honestly a bit too dismissive of all the work Twitter has actually done to this point.

Are they perfect?
No. That will never exist.

But they have teams of people who have been doing their best on very very hard problems (borderline unsolvable) for a long time.

We shouldn't rush to assume there is some "great fix" just waiting in dear Elon's magic hands.

That piece from TechDirt breaks it down so well.

Work? I am one of those Twitter censored for the wrong reasons. Their reasons and methods need to change.
They need to be open and honest about the “rules” they are using.

As for a great Elon fix … doubtful. What I am saying is that FB and Twitter need fixing. A change may bring that for Twitter. The status quo will not.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I am one of those Twitter censored for the wrong reasons.

What happened?

Forgive me if I missed it….been a long thread

 

[Karma*Police]

Genius? He put a rechargeable battery in a car. That’s it. Ford did it before him, but didn’t see a market for them at the time.

It’s so easy anyone could have done it, right? Which begs the question, why didn’t you? You could be the world’s richest man!

The reality is, it took a super genius to make it work. That’s why every established auto manufacturer around the world (including Ford) is frantically playing catch-up because they couldn’t make an appealing EV for the masses with their billions in profits yet Elon literally created a market for it with far less resources and in the process created the first successful American car company in a century while disrupting the entire auto industry.

And that’s just one of his many ventures: PayPal, Starlink, SpaceX, The Boring Company, SolarCity, and Neuralink… there may be others… I lost track. Also, Tesla is more than just a car company. They’re an energy company and will soon be a robotics company as well.

You don’t have to like the guy but at least have enough humility to admit the obvious.

 

[iGeneo]

That’s why every established auto manufacturer around the world (including Ford) is frantically playing catch-up because they couldn’t make an appealing EV for the masses with their billions in profits ...

Caught up and passed

Mercedes Benz's new electric car drives 600 miles on just ONE charge

MERCEDES-BENZ announced the EQXX, a new electric car that drives 600 miles on a single charge, twice the typical range. Driving reported that this vehicle made it from Sindelfingen, Germany, to the…

www.the-sun.com

 

[A MacBook lover]

Caught up and passed

Mercedes Benz's new electric car drives 600 miles on just ONE charge

MERCEDES-BENZ announced the EQXX, a new electric car that drives 600 miles on a single charge, twice the typical range. Driving reported that this vehicle made it from Sindelfingen, Germany, to the…

www.the-sun.com

Huh, I must have missed the part where any auto manufacturers autopilot was even close to Tesla’s. 🤷‍♂️

Funny how it’s always the cars that don’t exist that are Tesla killers.

Don’t forget the charging network.

Oh, and the vast amount of neural data Tesla sits on, that’s where the real value is.

You must be new to this space

 

[xpaulso]

Now I like Elon as a person. He has made the world a better place. A lot of people are all talk, but he has definitely put his money where his mouth is. Sometimes he talks too much and makes a bit of a fool out of himself but I'd rather have a guy who runs his mouth sometimes than some picture perfect media puppet where everyone knows it's just a facade.

But Elon buying Twitter - or not buying Twitter - is not really going to solve the underlying issue we are facing here: that social media has become a harmful oligopoly that needs to be reined in. Google, Twitter, Facebook (or Alphabet, Meta and... still Twitter) are in control of the modern town square. They should be classified as utilities and forced to be more transparent. This means opening up alogrithms to independent auditing, this means opening up what happens with moderation, this means sticking to one set of rules and applying them equally to everyone. I am sure no billionare would like this, but it's what I believe needs to happen.

Maybe Elon is going to make Twitter better. Maybe he is going to make it worse. But in the long run it's not going to change much.

This isn't that far from what Elon has openly stated.

 

[George Dawes]

What a waste of money , think of all the starving people around the world he could save instead

 

[Jim Lahey]

Twitter is a dystopian hellscape with a lust for brutally crushing all opposing opinion not endorsed by the hive-mind of government and their media lackeys. It exists now only as a tool to irreversibly brainwash the plebs into worshiping the current thing. Can't see an eccentric billionaire with designs on world domination changing much for the better. Musk may or may not be the lesser of many evils, but he definitely isn't your friend. Beware false idols.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

If it's true, that he wants to turn Twitter into a bastion of 'free speech'. it will serve as nothing less than a massive amplifier of the hatred ripping at the core of this country. It will be a thermonuclear missile aimed at the core of humanity. Nothing good will come of it. Unless regulations are introduced requiring that users of social media use their own personal names and locations for all accounts. Remove anonymity, remove the 'comfort' snipers and trolls enjoy on social media sites. Without anonymity horrific trolls will be held to account for their noxious hatred and threats, and be brought into the bright lights of civilized society to explain their behavior.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

What a waste of money , think of all the starving people around the world he could save instead

But he wants to burn it all down, not help people survive. Like I've said for years, It's too bad peace isn't more profitable. People realized they could make more money off the chaos, and we now have more chaos. Until people realize that isn't sustainable, we will continue to have chaos.

 

[Nismo73]

What a waste of money , think of all the starving people around the world he could save instead

He has to satisfy his starving ego.

 

[Sciomar]

It's always so easy to spend other people's money, we don't know the lengths he has gone for helping others in need. He doesn't have to spend his whole pot on one problem, it is okay to support multiple things. Twitter is the new-age town center where ideas are exchanged, it definitely needs fixing in its current state.

 

[iGeneo]

Huh, I must have missed the part where any auto manufacturers autopilot was even close to Tesla’s. ?‍♂️

Funny how it’s always the cars that don’t exist that are Tesla killers.

Don’t forget the charging network.

Oh, and the vast amount of neural data Tesla sits on, that’s where the real value is.

You must be new to this space

Tesla is yesterdays news, you just haven’t realized it yet

 

[A MacBook lover]

Tesla is yesterdays news, you just haven’t realized it yet

Wow, good one

 

[teak421]

In addition to allowing various viewpoints / news stories on Twitter, I would like to see the algorithms published for all to see. Like on each post there is a button that describes why you are seeing it. And, on your post, you can see how the algorithms are affecting your post. We hear about shadowbans, well, this would at least tell people what's going on with your post....

 

[icanhazmac]

So much of this is about certain types of people wanting to say whatever they want to anyone and everyone -- and their desire to have folks "have to listen to it"

A lot of people don't really "want that"

One could also say that so much of this is certain types of people wanting to dictate to others a new set of "rules" to live by that cannot be discussed or questioned without dissenters being immediately labeled as an -ist or -phob of one kind or another. It doesn't stop there, dissenting voices are also harassed and targets for doxx'ing and victims of people that will target their employers, all of these things threaten a persons livelihood for a simple difference of opinion.

A lot of people don't really "want that".

 

[turbineseaplane]

Thomas Thornton with a good concise perspective here also:



My take on the Twitter Elon Musk buyout. Won’t happen.

Does Twitter need to change with better management.
Hell yes.

Is Elon the right manager?
Definitely not.

Why is he doing it?
Most likely as a distraction from problems at Tesla, regulators who already have formal investigations including the DOJ, SEC, and FTC.

He might be building a defense in the guise of free speech which he’s not demonstrated that well in the past.
The ultimate result he will be cast as a victim of the government thus polarizing people.

It’s actually a brilliant move.

Perhaps this ruling from a couple of weeks ago that just hit Bloomberg now is part of the whole distraction ploy?

This ruling just made public against Elon Musk “funding secured” lie has serious implications for him.

My distraction thesis trying to get the court of public opinion on his side while setting up as the victim is becoming more clear.

Still a brilliant defense I will admit.

 

[transpo1]

What if I spam? Can I create millions of bots and spam with them? That is my free speech.

Good question— I’m no lawyer but bots are not citizens and therefore don’t have free speech.

 

[HalfFullmoon]

Good question— I’m no lawyer but bots are not citizens and therefore don’t have free speech.

So, only citizens have free speech?

 

[transpo1]

So, only citizens have free speech?

Only human beings have free speech, not HalfFullMoons or bots ?

 

[jjcs]

That's the challenge. Technological development has outpaced our laws. Nationalize Twitter? No, but there needs to be some method to regulate (?) sites with this type of broad impact.

If they're going to act like publishers, which they are now, then they no longer deserve the special protection against lawsuits given them by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

 

[transpo1]

If they're going to act like publishers, which they are now, then they no longer deserve the special protection against lawsuits given them by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Absolutely. Strip away Section 230 from them.