[Scape]

[DrCaleb]

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[Scape]

$8 for billions in losses overnight.

Well played Elon.

[Scape]

Twitter plays a ‘significant’ role in Canada’s democracy, and government must do more to regulate in face of Musk’s ‘roller-coaster,’ say observers

$1:

Twitter plays a “significant role in Canada’s democracy,” and the tumultuous fallout stemming from Elon Musk’s recent $44-billion acquisition of the platform highlights “the failure of governments” to regulate these platforms, says Sonja Solomun of McGill University.

Solomun, who serves as deputy director of McGill’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, said Musk’s controversial acquisition of the platform on Oct. 28, and the tumultuous events that have followed, illustrate “how the decisions of an American-based company do have ripple effects and have significant impact in countries around the world.”

Solomun said, with research from the centre’s Media Ecosystem Observatory having found that Twitter is the third most popular place where Canadians get their political news, combined with the platform’s outsized use by politicians and academics, the “significant changes” planed by Musk mean Canadians “have a right to be concerned about the direction that those changes are heading.”

JT are you reading this? Along with your invisible China policy you may want to actually do something about this.

[raydan]

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Twitter paid verification, day 2.

[Strutz]

Here are some of the 'verified' fake Twitter accounts overtaking the platform

Some of these are hilarious.

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Internet today breaks down a list

[JaredMilne]

I have mixed feelings about this, now that I've processed it a bit.

On the one hand, if Twitter's downfall helps spell the end of mass harassment pileons and shamings under the guise of what its proponents call "accountability culture" (and which can be done both by left- and right-wing mobs) I think it'll be long overdue.

On the other hand, for me it was shit other people posted that drove me off Twitter. My own interactions could actually be thoughtful exchanges with various academics, activists and politicos, when I wasn't bantering with cast members of Murdoch Mysteries. If Twitter blows up, how much more fractured is the social media sphere going to be? Are all these users just going to gather in their own echo chambers? It was already happening with new social media sites that many conservatives were ditching Twitter for, but if Twitter dies, how do people get access to a greater variety of views?

I wouldn't necessarily expect a personal response from somebody like Rachel Notley, Pierre Poilievre or anyone else with a really big public profile, but there were times when I got actual conversations with all the people I mentioned earlier, the academics, less-famous actors, etc. They were educational and informative, and I formed genuine connections in some cases.

How and when do we get those things if the likes of Twitter and Facebook collapse?

[Strutz]

JaredMilne JaredMilne:

How and when do we get those things if the likes of Twitter and Facebook collapse?

There was the existence of life before Twitter and Facebook and without them life would likely continue. Private messaging boards perhaps for specific groups?

[Thanos]

There was also life before any of the rest of the internet too. In hindsight it was kind of fucking awesome. Simpler, funnier, happier, less insane, and just plain more enjoyable all around. Any dying person from 2010 upwards has probably wondered on their deathbeds "why did I waste so much time doing any of that?" when they reflect in their last moments on their utterly pointless activities online. I know I will. "Like, WTF man?!?!?!?"

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[raydan]