It's almost as if musk bought twitter to turn it into a right wing propaganda mill with the specific goal of undermining journalism and informed consensus in order to to normalize, amplify, and validate authoritarian rhetoric and control
We studied 100 popular accounts reinstated by Musk after being banned by Twitter. We found they played an important role in injecting them into mainstream discourse, often interacting with Musk himself & growing their followings exponentially since returning to X. www.nytimes.com/2024/10/12/t...
Many users who were reinstated by X have continued to share the kinds of false narratives and conspiracies that once got them suspended.
Truth be told!
every time I say this somebody inevitably pops up to say "that's giving him too much credit" or "you're over thinking it," as if it takes any great smarts to wage an ideological propaganda war online (see: the GOP)
At the time I thought it was to destroy it…but this is much worse.
Who could have anticipated that Musk would turn Twitter into a rightwing propaganda mill to change public opinion to advance billionaires' interests? (November 2022: "It now seems clear Elon Musk is changing Twitter to amplify rightwing voices.")
When your opponent controls the playing field, you will always lose that fight. Let's democratize our media.
Just in the micro-sense, the demonization of "woke", which is at its essence, the "Golden Rule," has had many corrosive effects on society. It astounds me that politicians speak openly in a way that would immediately get them canned by HR due to their obvious insensitivity, thus the "problem" is HR.
Nope. Musk's just a late stage tumour in the metastasising of the American media - the Journalism Industrial Complex. Since the 80s, I watched the US legacy media not just (goose-)step to the Right, but PUSH and PUSH. The politcians, the tech bros, corporate despots are nothing without THIS media.
I think this is giving him way too much credit. I think he made a bid for the lol's didnt read the fine print and got stuck buying it. Since then its just been him being himself and chasing the money which is right wing grift dollars that alaign with his sensibilities.
new year's resolution -- don't be naive about democracy's enemies -- don't assume they are naive or silly or unable to carry through on a plan
Every time I see a Tesla, I'm like fuck Elon Musk