Trump or Musk: Tweet or die or live or die? A U.S. Senator meets Twitter and argues that Trump is not a free-for-all hellscape
Despite his months-long attempt to get out of buying the company and his own recent remarks that he is “obviously overpaying” for it, Musk has tried to sound optimistic about Twitter’s potential.
Musk met with employees at the San Francisco headquarters. He also posted an open letter to Twitter advertisers, saying he doesn’t want the platform to become a “free-for-all-hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.”
The difference between Donald Trump and Musk in terms of behavior on the platform is that Trump wanted to rule by tweeter, while Musk was more interested in spreading misinformation.
Musk will get more control thanks to the acquisition. The billionaire already owns, oversees or has significant stakes in companies developing cars, rockets, robots and satellite internet, as well as more experimental ventures such as brain implants. Now he controls a social media platform that shapes how hundreds of millions of people communicate and get their news.
Musk also pledged to “defeat the spam bots or die trying,” referring to the fake and scam accounts that are often especially active in the replies to his tweets and those of others with large followings on the platform.
The parties were given a last chance to reach a deal on Oct. 28 or face a new trial.
Social Media Landscape in the Trump Era: Musk’s Case for a Paid Verification Barrier on Twitter after the January 6 Capitol Controversy
The social media landscape could be affected by such a move. Twitter, although smaller than many of its social media rivals, has sometimes acted as a model for how the industry handles problematic content, including when it was the first to ban then-President Trump following the January 6 Capitol riot.
“The long-term potential for Twitter, in my view, is an order of magnitude greater than its current value,” he said on Tesla’s earnings conference call last week.
I think there’s a reasonable argument for some kind of paid verification. A nominal maintenance fee, for instance, would fix the real problem of abandoned verified accounts getting hacked and taken over by spammers. It is not the only way, of course, you could also request a manual renewal for inactive accounts. More generally, the inability to verify your account onTwitter has been a big problem for years. A lot of accounts that government agencies and activists use to confirm their identities are the least able and willing to pay a monthly fee, because they are frequently impersonated by harassment campaigns. And to be blunt, Twitter needs a verified user base more than a lot of individuals need those little blue checks.
“The whole verification process is being revamped right now,” Musk tweeted on Sunday. Later that day, Musk engaged with a poll tweeted out by Jason Calcanis, a member of the billionaire’s inner circle, asking how much they would pay to be verified on the platform. A large majority of responders selected the “wouldn’t pay” option.
The blue check mark has been seen as a status symbol for users, but it also has been designed to make sure users can determine which accounts are real and which are fake. It’s possible that a paid barrier would make it harder to determine whether a notable name is a bot or not.
Take Musk’s last 24 hours on the platform for example: The billionaire gave credence to a fringe conspiracy theory about the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi. Musk blasted the media outlets that reported on his irresponsible behavior. He lashed out at The New York Times, and criticized The Guardian for being a far left wing propaganda machine.
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The Blue Check Rapture: What Can We Learn to Stop Worrying About the Newswire, Google News, and Pseudoscalars
This proposed shakeup has not gone over well with Twitter power users. Author Stephen King, for instance, tweeted that he would be “gone like Enron” rather than pay to be verified. Musk is undeterred. The Blue Check rapture is going to happen.
Musk has taken over an information environment that has already become polluted, but he is also trying to dismantle the small infrastructure erected to help users sift through the daily chaos. According to recent reports, he plans to strip public figures of their badges if they don’t pay.
It may look like a business story if you charge for verified badges. The move will have a large impact on the information landscape. Most notably, it will make it much more difficult for users to distinguish from authentic and inauthentic accounts.
The right has for years lashed out at “blue checks,” whom in their eyes represent elitist gatekeepers who control the conversation, even though many conservatives also don blue badges. Taking away those free blue checks and the air of authority they give upon the profile they are appended to will certainly please some conservatives.
Musk’s authorized biographer, Walter Isaacson, tweeted in 2018 that “the best thing” one could do to “save social networks, the internet, civil discourse, democracy, email, and reduce hacking would be authenticating users.”
Every social network creates a different style of posting, and that is what makes it weird: it is one part newswire, one part nonsense. On the other hand, on the one hand, it’s nice to have a platform where reporters can get live coverage before it hits their websites, and on the other hand, politicians and businesses make official announcements about anything from customer service complaints to hurricanes. On the other, it’s the home of @horse_ebooks, Weird Twitter, a plethora of pseudonymous crypto evangelists and fandom stans, the Gorilla Channel tweet, and too many parody accounts to list. The first category benefits from how easy it is to create accounts that aren’t tied to a real name or face, as well as the second category for how quickly you can fire off jokes or hot takes.
At their best, these two Twitter styles are complementary. The inherent seriousness of Newswire Twitter heightens the humor and absurdity of Nonsense Twitter, and the style of Nonsense Twitter bleeds into Newswire Twitter, doing things like turning government consumer protection agencies into memelords. There is room for a lot of chaos, like the fake North Korean propaganda feed called DPRK News.
The Bluesky Service: Why Musk and the Other Social Networks Caught up in the Footprints of Dorsey’s Vision
All of which might sound like an argument for Musk’s new plan. It doesn’t make much sense to pay $240 a year to keep that sense of trust.
The federated social network is uncertain if it is adopted by Musk. If Musk chooses to follow Dorsey’s original vision, it’s unclear what the end users will think about the services acting as a client for the Bluesky standard. Bluesky hasn’t explained how the AT Protocol will change the way platforms are able to monetize and moderate content, only that it will create more interoperability and transparency.
Since it was set up under Dorsey in 2019, Bluesky has tried to create a system that lets users see how algorithms serve up content and control their personal data, and allows them to use a single profile across several social apps. Dorsey, who bonded with Musk over a shared enthusiasm for crypto, effectively pitched him the idea of using Bluesky earlier this year when he proposed that Twitter be turned into “an open source protocol.” What would Musk do to respond? “Super interesting idea.”
The blue check system isn’t a cure for fraud, lies, and other misinformation, but it did help the platform operate as it should. The blue badges for their networks are a reason why the other major social platforms cribbed them. They have been helpful.