Below are posts associated with the “Elon Musk” tag.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter’s $42,000-per-Month API Prices Out Nearly Everyone | WIRED'
RIP my Twitter research. Glad I have other irons in the fire…
🔗 linkblog: Musk apologizes for mocking and firing Twitter exec with muscular dystrophy | Ars Technica'
Twitter just gets worse and worse. What a joke.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk Is Reportedly Building 'Based AI' Because ChatGPT Is Too Woke'
This is dumb and worrying. The CEO of Gab has been promising to develop “based AI,” but he’s a bit player. Musk has the resources and influence to make this a bigger problem.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first - The Verge'
This is just so petty. I don’t know how his leadership at Twitter is defensible anymore.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk’s reach on Twitter is dropping — he just fired a top engineer over it - The Verge'
Every time I think this acquisition can’t get dumber, it does.
🔗 linkblog: Conservatives Are Obsessed With Getting ChatGPT to Say the N-Word'
Of all the dumb responses to perfectly legitimate content moderation, this is perhaps the dumbest.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter to remove free API access in latest money making quest - The Verge'
I presume this decisuon also cuts off academics; this is going to have a huge impact on research, and not in a good way. I’m glad I’ve pivoted to other platforms, but this is still infuriating.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter says it’s intentionally blocking apps like Tweetbot - The Verge'
Ah, the kind of answer that only raises more questions.
🔗 linkblog: As Elon Fires More Trust & Safety Staff, Twitter’s Moderation Efforts Fall Apart | Techdirt'
Repeat after me: Content moderation is a good thing.
quitting scrolling, not just Twitter
Although it’s been a real delight to see so many people joining Mastodon over the past few weeks, I’ve found that there’s also a disadvantage that I hadn’t expected: I’m spending a lot more time scrolling through Mastodon these days than I ever have since setting up my Mastodon accounts.
When I began setting up Mastodon accounts and shifting away from Twitter back in April, I felt like I had made a big leap forward in terms of my online consumption.
🔗 linkblog: Musk asks in poll if he should step down as Twitter CEO, users vote yes : NPR'
What a weird week it has been in Twitterland.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors - The Verge'
Just when you thought this couldn’t get any worse. Will be really interested to see if Dorsey gets banned.
🔗 linkblog: Mastodon users embrace columnist's funny error about a fictitious John Mastodon | Boing Boing'
This has been one of the most delightful moments I’ve experienced in my relatively short time on Mastodon. This week has been a good one for Mastodon: Musk’s continued missteps have brought more people, and a meme like this one helps give the fediverse more of a shared culture.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Tries (Badly) To Defend The Banning Of Journalists As Twitter Starts Blocking Links & Mentions Of Mastodon | Techdirt'
I’ve posted a bunch of articles about this already, but Masnick’s take is super helpful.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I’m One of Them.'
Free speech is genuinely important, but it’s hard to take the ideal seriously when its advocates twist it to mean something specific and self-serving.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon - The Verge'
I’ve been trying to avoid dire predictions for Twitter since Musk took over, but this seems more and more like a turning point in the identity and reputation of the platform.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk starts banning critical journalists from Twitter - The Verge'
I mean, I’m willing to wait a bit and see what Twitter and Musk have to say about this, but this sure doesn’t seem like the approach that a free speech absolutist would take.
🔗 linkblog: Elon’s Commitment To Free Speech Rapidly Replaced By His Commitment To Blatant Hypocrisy: Bans The JoinMastodon Account | Techdirt'
Musk is getting pettier and more self-centered.
🔗 linkblog: Elon’s Promise Not To Ban Account Tracking His Jet Didn’t Last Very Long At All; Also Bans Guy’s Personal Account | Techdirt'
How does such an already bad story get so much worse over the course of a single day?
🔗 linkblog: Twitter Bans Elon Musk Flight Tracking Account After He Said It Wouldn’t, for Free Speech'
Twitter left up other flight tracking accounts but took down Musk’s?
🔗 linkblog: Twitter suspends @ElonJet after Musk promises not to ban it - The Verge'
This is petty and concerning.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter ditches Trust and Safety Council as Musk tweets fuel harassment | Ars Technica'
I think this headline captures one of the worst parts of all of this: Musk isn’t just dismissing concerns about behavior, he’s fueling that behavior.
🔗 linkblog: Goodbye, Twitter - by Ken White - The Popehat Report'
I haven’t been following Ken White as much as I used to, but this reminds me why I appreciate his perspective. This is someone who knows what free speech is and advocates for it, not someone who uses it as a buzzword justification for reprehensible behavior, à la Musk.
🔗 linkblog: Before Musk Riled Everyone Up With Misleading Twitter Files About ‘Shadowbanning,’ Musk Used The Tool To Hide Account Tracking His Plane | Techdirt'
If I could pick one story to demonstrate that Musk’s Twitter tenure has been blundering and inconsistent…
🔗 linkblog: The Transparency Theater of the Twitter Files | WIRED'
I have deliberately not been following the Twitter Files stuff, but I did read this and found it helpful.
unexpected research ethics implications of Twitter's 'general amnesty' for suspended accounts
For over three years now, I’ve been getting increasingly involved with research projects that involve the online far right in one way or another. One of the most interesting ways that I’ve developed as a researcher during this time is having to think through in greater detail my commitments to research ethics. Because my research typically focuses on public social media data, I am rarely required to obtain informed consent from those whom I study.
🔗 linkblog: They Wanted a Baby, Then Twitter Fired Them | WIRED'
Infertility sucks, and stories like this make me even more upset about Musk’s callous and chaotic Twitter takeover.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk proposes letting nearly everyone Twitter banned back on the site - The Verge'
Is he serious? Does he really think this is a good idea? Also, I love the increasing sass that The Verge and other outlets are putting into their comments about Twitter no longer having a communications team to respond to requests for comment.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk tries to blame ‘activists’ for his Twitter moderation council lie - The Verge'
This seems petty, immature, and misguided.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk’s Twitter Teeters on the Edge After Another 1,200 Leave - The New York Times'
I didn’t expect 1,200 resignations!
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, starting with Jordan Peterson and the Babylon Bee - The Verge'
Oh good, so on top of the unexpected chaos, the expected chaos is also still happening.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk ignored Twitter’s internal warnings about paid verification - The Verge'
This doesn’t surprise me at all. So much of the current Twitter chaos is predictable.
🔗 linkblog: Twitter reactivated the new ‘Official’ gray checkmark for accounts that are actually verified - The Verge'
What an absolute mess this whole thing has been.
🔗 linkblog: Musk-led Twitter rolls out new “Official” tags, removes them hours later | Ars Technica'
Move fast and break things, indeed. Checks as verification and checks as business model are inherently at odds with each other, and I get the vibe that Musk (team business model) is unhappy with internal pushback from team verification.