so, uh, this isn’t a huge deal and not a binary of “leave Twitter” or “stay on Twitter” but you may want to be wary as Elon Musk just became the biggest shareholder in the company:
This may be a step toward influencing and even buying the company. Proportionally, Twitter doesn’t have THAT many users of the general population, but what it does have is a huge number of US (and other countries) journalists live on Twitter. What journalists see the public often sees.
Twitter also already lives on the outrage algorithm. Bad emotions = more clicks. Plus, “in all countries studied, except Germany, Twitter found that right-leaning accounts receive more algorithmic amplification” and specifically “negative posts about political outgroups tend to receive much more engagement on Facebook and Twitter.”
Anyway, this is already Not Great, but it doesn’t the mean the system can’t get even more fucked as Musk is being pushed to un-ban Trump and other moves. Anyway, be wary.
