𝕏 / Twitter / X, the Social Media Platform Formerly Known as Twitter / "MUSK OWNS TWITTER"

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dustbuster said:
The proper reply from Elon is to shutter Twitter's EU office and pull a rumble.
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N TUESDAY, EUROPE’S top tech regulator called out X owner Elon Musk for losing control of his own platform. "Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” Thierry Breton said in an open letter, posted on X.

The pair then engaged in a brief but public exchange. Breton gave Musk a 24-hour deadline to respond; Musk told Breton to provide more details publicly. The EU commissioner said his people would be in touch. “No backroom deals,” the billionaire shot back. Breton’s next post on X invited his followers to join him on Bluesky, a competing social media platform.

Breton has become the face of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping rule book for the internet giants designed to protect human rights and limit the spread of illegal content online. The 68-year-old has embraced meetings with Big Tech executives as part of that role. In the past year, he’s been pictured with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, explaining how their companies should follow the new rules. Before Musk officially bought X, then Twitter, the Frenchman flew to Texas to meet him, also extracting a video pledge from Musk that the platform would comply with the regulation.

The whole idea of the EU’s new rules for the internet is to make the world’s most powerful platforms more like Brussels—a place that (at least in theory) respects rules and human rights. But as the bloc tries to enforce its rules on the unruly owner of X, critics say Brussels is becoming more like Elon Musk, rather than the other way around.

“Breton is a politician, eager to keep himself in the press cycle for as long as possible in the run-up to the elections,” says a well-placed source in Brussels, who asks to be anonymous because they work closely with Breton’s team.

This is “really the exact thing we worried would happen if we give enforcement powers to a political commission: using the threat of powers it has to make platforms do things they aren’t actually obliged to do,” says Jan Penfrat, senior policy adviser at Brussels-based digital rights group, EDRi. “We confirm that we are 100 percent in line with enforcement procedures of the DSA,” says an EU official, declining to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

Penfrat is worried about political overreach—he agrees that disinformation on X is a problem. There is no legal obligation for platforms to respond in 24 hours, he says, referring to Breton’s letter. “Don't just throw out empty threats on a social media site. This is not how enforcement works,” Penfrat says. “He's playing [by] Elon Musk's rules here, rather than using the ones that he's been given by the law.”

Breton’s letter also refers to “crisis measures.” There are extra “crisis” rules contained in the Digital Services Act, designed to be used in times of war. “However, none of the requirements in order for this mechanism to be enacted have been initiated or met, further indicating overreach by the commission,” says Asha Allen, advocacy director for Europe, at the Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a nonprofit.

Allen says she is also concerned that Breton’s letter appears to conflate illegal content and disinformation. Creating a false equivalency between the two is worrying for freedom of expression, she says. “It is for these types of reasons that the DSA treats those content types differently; on the one hand, it contains mandatory obligations to tackle illegal content, and on the other hand increases due diligence to address harmful but lawful content.”

The CDT is seeking clarification on Breton’s letter, says Allen. “We would characterize the letter as a misstep.”


What happens next is unclear. Under the new rules, the EU Commission can fine social media platforms up to 6 percent of their global turnover or, in extreme cases, block a site entirely from the EU. That would take months of investigation, however.

“There won't be immediate consequences if X doesn't address some of the allegations in the letter,” says Mathias Vermeulen, the public policy director at AWO, a data rights consultancy.

“But Breton seems to hint at the fact that X's response will be taken into account by the commission when it is assessing the risk mitigation measures.”
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musk response
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musk is trying to equivocate but he must know eventually the EU will be utilizing this law to prevent the spread of inconvenient wrongfacts.

He either closes up shop in the EU or admits its all a lie in the most embarrassing moment possible, and that moment is coming sooner or later.
 
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General Emílio Médici said:
It's like this african american has no understanding of what people will do for easy money. He really seems to have thought this wouldn't result in a complete deluge of the worst sort of tabloid garbage and sensationalism out there.
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Repeating myself but from the start I’ve thought this was actually his main objective: destroy Twitter as an instant source of largely falsifiable ground-truth data about any event - natural disaster, war, atrocity, scandal, or even corporate corruption and misdeeds.

His backers paid for this to, for example, prevent a repeat of the Arab Spring, or to thwart on the ground reporting from the Ukraine invasion. He personally wanted it for more obscure reasons but I think largely to do with his edgelord mentality and desire to control and manipulate the political landscape wherever it suited his business interests or worldview.

In that context, pretty much all his changes make sense. It is no longer the place you go first for information, or at least, you won’t be able to trust what you find there.
 
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dustbuster said:
The proper reply from Elon is to shutter Twitter's EU office and pull a rumble.
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The EU is a major market I doubt that would happen. If Musk refuses to comply with the EU demands, they might fine him a huge amount or ban Twitter from Europe. Reminder this is like when Google was forced to comply with Chinese regulations of social media.
 
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Oxyjen said:
In that context, pretty much all his changes make sense. It is no longer the place you go first for information, or at least, you won’t be able to trust what you find there.
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Truth be told it was also untrustworthy before Elon, it was just that the MSM was able to propagandize with impunity and the people that opposed that often got banned under Yoel's terror regime.
Yes, it is fair to say that in average, the MSM was more accurate than the grugg spergs dominating the platform now. But the fact that they promoted so much misinfo specifically on race, gender and COVID (and war), while having so much money and influence, makes them intentionally evil, compared to the 40IQ MAGApede Qtard spamming memes and Arma3 screeshots as fact.
What if Elon is just retarded? I know it sounds simplistic, but he honestly seems to me like somebody I could diagnose with a mental illness quite easily.
Retarded, easily influenced, and generally new to memesters and Internet shenanigans. Null would be able to run Xitter 1000 times more efficient and it would be better moderated. IMO.
 
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Highly likely. He’s a high functioning autist and sociopath, I can tell that for free.
But who in their right mind would take on that job with any other ambition than just making it to your CEO fuckup-payoff.
 
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PyroJohn said:
The EU is a major market I doubt that would happen. If Musk refuses to comply with the EU demands, they might fine him a huge amount or ban Twitter from Europe. Reminder this is like when Google was forced to comply with Chinese regulations of social media.
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If mark cuckerberg was willing to shut the EU out over their stupid news fees, Musk should be doing it here over the fundamental bedrock of his value proposition to the market.
If twitter does not have press freedom, then its value is forfeit.
 
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PyroJohn said:
The EU is a major market I doubt that would happen. If Musk refuses to comply with the EU demands, they might fine him a huge amount or ban Twitter from Europe. Reminder this is like when Google was forced to comply with Chinese regulations of social media.
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Oh well, X is an American company and I find it ridiculous that American companies submit themselves to the pressure of foreign policy. X is a special case in that he very publicly has a lot of money invested in the company where yes, cutting out an entire market might hurt a little. Either that or the EU stops with their incessant surveillance is great, all hail authority dick sucking laws.
 

One Year Into Musk’s Ownership, X (Twitter) Down By Every Measure​



  • In September, global web traffic to twitter.com was down -14%, year-over-year, and traffic to the ads.twitter.com portal for advertisers was down -16.5%, according to Similarweb estimates.
  • In the US, where about a quarter of twitter.com’s web traffic originates, September traffic was down -19%. The trend was similar, if not quite as pronounced in other countries: -11.6% in the UK, -13.4% in France, -17.9% in Germany, and -17.5% in Australia.
  • Performance on mobile was no better, down -17.8% year-over-year based on combined monthly active users for iOS and Android in the US. Worldwide, Android usage was down -14.8%.
  • The numbers for September are consistent with longer-term trends. If we compare the first 9 months of 2023 with the same period in 2022, twitter.com traffic is down 11.6% year-over-year in the US and 7% worldwide. Mobile app usage in the US is down 12.8% in that period.
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But not all is lost

On the plus side, traffic to Elon Musk’s profile and posts was up 96% year-over-year in September.
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Terrifik said:
View attachment 5423008View attachment 5423015
2 for 2 day
it can only get better
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That's funny and smart. Wasn't Null who was stating that Something Awful used a payment plan to help filter minors. Also it feels like I've been a little johnny on the spot with my speculation:

Absurdist Laughter said:
Since the verified account, which is usually a content creator of some sort, chooses to restrict their posts to verified only naturally gatekeeps. It gatekeeps people out of communities, voice chats, streams, it is harder for trolls, stalkers, etc.
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Absurdist Laughter said:
Although, with that said, with the revelation of a potential "report" card, the score hidden on user profiles for frequent reporters, even if institutional abuse can be found I'd wager there might be repercussions for crying wolf.
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^this one is loosely confirmed, however, considering the information that we now have about the community notes, it is more plausible that a report card system is being implemented.
 
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