Elon Musk $41B offer for Twitter
Discussion
Hostile take-over by free speech absolutist -
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/inter...
If successful, that is going to be a seismic change in the media landscape.
The Gruniad don't like it, natch.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/inter...
If successful, that is going to be a seismic change in the media landscape.
The Gruniad don't like it, natch.
Gaines178 said:
I like the way Musk does business. Must be amazing to be able to wake up and think “I’m going to spend $40bn on an app” - and there I am wondering if spending 79p a month is worth it 
He certainly does act. There must be thousands of people rich enough to do this, but who else can you think of who would?I look forward to the cries of "It's a private company and can un-censor whoever they like!"
Byker28i said:
Neither do others
Musk’s version of free speech, in practice, seems to be one in which only powerful people can say what they please and escape any negative consequences.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/202...
Screams from all the right people.Musk’s version of free speech, in practice, seems to be one in which only powerful people can say what they please and escape any negative consequences.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/202...
IAmTheWalrus said:
Be far easier for a man of his wealth to make a new site with similar features and assure people they wont get censored.
It would certainly be cheaper.But you have to persuade people to move. This is probably easy enough for those who have been censored on Twitter, but those who have not will have a lot of inertia. Meanwhile, any alternates that do start up get marginalized and smeared on Twitter and in the MSM, who have reacted to social media taking their audience by controlling that too.
pquinn said:
Well it's to do with them running lots of investment funds (passive index trackers, ETFs - all sorts) and having a massive amount of assets under management. Their aggregate holding looks big as a result.
Are you suggesting that the huge asset management companies are passive actors or that this is some automatic rebalancing? I think that is a little naive.Well, that was then. This is Bloomberg, today -
Twitter Eyes Deal With Musk as Soon as Monday
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25...
Twitter Eyes Deal With Musk as Soon as Monday
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25...
Ian974 said:
I still find it bizarre both that people think Twitter is important and that people will likely leave it because of the person trying to buy it
I imagine the people who "will leave if Elon buys Twitter" will turn out like those who were "going to leave the UK if we leave the EU" and subsequently proved to be unflushable.Still, all the Waily Waily is funny.
g3org3y said:
The legacy media have basically controlled what the public think by controlling what the public hears since forever. That is what it is for. The internet democratised publishing, so the same rich people and governments bought up and legislated all the successful publishers and marginalised any alternative views by the back door.
Now a mainstream site might actually support "free speech" and all the right people are wailing.
Byker28i said:
Whats going on with twitter and followers?
Many people reporting suddenly losing thousands of followers whilst right wing suddenly see massive increases?
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-...
It looks like Twitter is furiously ripping out the throttling they were using to suppress voices they didn't like -Many people reporting suddenly losing thousands of followers whilst right wing suddenly see massive increases?
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-...
ZedLeg said:
El stovey said:
Why doesn’t Musk start his own platform and if people agree with him then it would become a huge success like twitter is already.
As has been proven by Gab and Parler, free speech absolutists don't really want their own platform. They need somewhere to harass people because what's the point of free speech if you can't throw slurs at people.El stovey said:
That’s because what they don’t like and what’s already successful. . . works
and what they think will work better. . . . doesn’t.
There is no "works" and "doesn't" about it. Twitter isn't difficult to reproduce technically. It is simply first mover advantage and inertia.and what they think will work better. . . . doesn’t.
rscott said:
I think the most interesting part of that article was the mention that employees will no longer get stock options as part of their package - that could well mean Twitter will have issues attracting the best staff unless they increase salaries considerably.
Even then, many of the brightest techies tend to want to get stock.
That's not necessarily an issue. Twitter is not technically difficult. There have been several attempts to create competitors. They all work.Even then, many of the brightest techies tend to want to get stock.
g3org3y said:
Twitter said:
JUST IN: The FCC, FTC and DOJ were asked to block Elon Musk’s deal to acquire Twitter after claiming the transaction poses a “direct threat to American democracy and free speech”.
The Commissioner responded and said they had no authority to block the purchase.
The Commissioner responded and said they had no authority to block the purchase.
They really don't want free speech on Twitter. I wonder why...
(no, I don't. I know why).
dudleybloke said:
Are they afraid that their own tactics will be used against their agenda or something?
It's worse than that. They are not worried about censorship and suppression being used to harm their agenda, they are worried that the absence of censorship and suppression would harm their agenda. That's how corrupt it all is.No wonder they've a code freeze and a panic at Twitter HQ. I bet they are shredding docs like the Final Days of Enron.
Electro1980 said:
These people going on about Twitter making changes now because of Musk have no idea about IT or business.
Not only, as said, would everything have to be documented but there is no way they would be able to develop, test and implement changes that quickly.
UPDATE TABLE usersNot only, as said, would everything have to be documented but there is no way they would be able to develop, test and implement changes that quickly.
SET throttle = 0
GO
rodericb said:
I would imagine that Twitter has mechanisms in place to easily and quickly adjust whatever variables feed into whatever algorithms are used to "run" their business. Probably not a comedy ships helm in the CEO's office which they can turn left or right but I wouldn't want it much more complicated than that....
It is clearly per user and per subject, so there will be custom internal tools for non-technical staff to administer these settings safely. Changing the settings will be a routine operation, not a code release.rscott said:
I'd be amazed if there wasn't an audit trail for those changes though.
There will be an audit trail if the management want an audit trail. And if they don't, there won't be.Do you think Enron's management kept a meticulous record of the documents it was furiously shredding at the end?
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