Twitter has aggressively defended users' privacy and free speech rights, pushing back on unmasking subpoenas, but it's unclear if this will continue under Musk

and possibly Elon himself — seem to think the Twitter algorithm actually works like this https://twitter.com/... Mike Masnick / @mmasnick : The guy bleating on for years about “cancel culture” is demanding that a lot of people get fired for their political views. https://twitter.com/... @samidh : Okay, I will try to keep this as simple as possible for Trust & Safety novices out there. Plenty of speech is not strictly illegal but is a horrible experience for people on a platform. Examples: Racism, Doxxing, Nudity, Spam, etc. So what do you do about it? 🧵... https://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : You cannot “match the law” and then also say you will “authenticate all humans” and block spam bots. The law protects anonymous speech. The law protects commercial speech. Every service that has ever tried this move has quickly retreated for the same obvious reasons https://twitter.com/... Justin Amash / @justinamash : Laws to “promote algorithmic justice” for the sake of the children. It's like a parody but from an actual senator. https://twitter.com/... Tim O'Brien / @timobrien : “Free speech” in Elonland: — Making false claims about your business — Making false claims about a global pandemic There's a difference between “free speech” and “unfettered disinformation.” https://twitter.com/... Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : The past decade of internet history has been a confrontation between an idealized, U.S.-centric view of free speech and the zillion tradeoffs needed to let everyone truly have a say and feel free. The latest from me: https://www.nytimes.com/... Ben Shapiro / @benshapiro : Elon Musk has committed to nothing except more transparency and more free speech — and the Left is melting down. Which shows two things: 1. They hate transparency and free speech; 2. They always assumed Twitter opposed both, then gaslit everyone that Twitter wasn't biased. Robert Reich / @rbreich : Zuckerberg owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. Elon Musk owns Twitter. When multi-billionaires take control of our most vital platforms for communication, it's not a win for free speech. It's a win for oligarchy. Parmy Olson / @parmy : Musk is a brilliant businessman and marketer who mostly scoffs at policy makers. He has an engineer's mindset. Policy is not his strong suit. @devincow : @monsterometer @weisselbergers I remember feeling safe and secure. What's it like? Kimberley Strassel / @kimstrassel : Washington currently has dangerous influence over the most powerful online platforms. And Washington most certainly can't be trusted. So we should be very worried when they promise to pass laws, especially in the name of “algorithmic justice.” https://twitter.com/... Allen Weisselberger / @weisselbergers : @PeterLamariana Activists and journalists working under cover of anonymity are why we know about most of the malfeasance. Imagine a Russia with the intel pipeline of courageous, endangered investigators cut off from the west. Picture a Ukrainian war where defenders might not risk sharing intel. Steven Greenhouse / @greenhousenyt : Elon Musk champions free speech, but not so much for his workers, especially ones who support a union The NLRB found that Tesla unlawfully fired & disciplined workers for pro-union activity & unlawfully prohibited workers form speaking to the news media. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... @samidh : In short if you want the free marketplace of ideas to prevail, you must deal with harmful actors who are within the bounds of the law but whose vitriol destroys participation. There's no perfect solution. So let's dispense with the rhetoric and talk honestly about the tradeoffs. @devincow : @monsterometer @weisselbergers I understand, however, I've lived with credible threats for years. Parmy Olson / @parmy : I wonder if Musk is referring to U.S. “law” on free speech here. If so, there's a disturbing prospect Musk's Twitter will flout upcoming laws in Europe that require social media platforms to police hate speech more strictly. That will become a major headache for both sides... https://twitter.com/... Allen Weisselberger / @weisselbergers : Elon Musk has said he may eliminate anonymous accounts, placing activists, dissidents, stalking victims, foreign journalists, and targeted minorities in physical danger. Please RT and offer suggestions. Where should we relocate? Parmy Olson / @parmy : But a huge part of running social media involves policy: dealing with govs, regulators, campaigners, making sure your Terms of Service strike a delicate balance of keeping users both engaged and legally healthy - in multiple jurisdictions. This will be tougher than he thinks. David Freedlander / @freedlander : Two months ago Musk tried to get a 19-year-old to shut down an account that used publicly available data to track down his private jet https://twitter.com/... @breathenewwinds : Nobody fears free speech. People fear the being targeted with free speech for their sexuality, gender, economic position, etc., and they fear the actions that happen when “free speech” is used to activate extremists. Richest man on the earth and he's still an idiot. https://twitter.com/... @gspellchecker : This Elon Musk takeover is terrifying. We can't just have people going around and saying what they think. The best way to avoid this fascism is for a team of unaccountable progressives to decide which thoughts are correct via some vague, mysterious & subjective terms of service @alt_uscis : yes, do know this from personal experience. https://www.nbcnews.com/... https://twitter.com/... @erratarob : If by “authenticating humans” @ElonMusk means anything like Facebook's “Real Names” travesty, I'll literally eat my hat. I mention this because it seems like everyone is willfully misreading Musk's comments. https://twitter.com/... Evan Greer / @evan_greer : Justin, you're usually pretty right about tech policy, but in this case you're wrong. The Algorithmic Justice and Transparency Act is actually a good bill, and one of the few efforts at regulating tech responsibly rather than blowing up Section 230 or calling for more censorship https://twitter.com/... Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : Fun fact: a website called 8chan tried this exact “we only censor illegal speech” approach just a few years ago! Worked out great! https://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer

Techdirt 2022-04-27 Mike Masnick

Context & Ripple Effects

Musk’s stated agenda paired open-sourcing Twitter’s algorithms with defeating spam and authenticating users, placing platform transparency and identity policy under the same ownership transition. Twitter’s prior resistance to unmasking demands therefore matters as a concrete test of how that agenda will be applied.

Later, Musk announced a policy to deboost and demonetize negative or hate tweets, showing that moderation decisions would be set through owner-led policy changes rather than merely through algorithmic openness.

First-order effects

Twitter users targeted by unmasking subpoenas face uncertainty over whether the company will preserve its established practice of contesting demands for their identities.
Musk assumes direct control over a conflict between his stated interest in authenticating users and Twitter’s prior defense of anonymous speech.

Second-order effects

Trust and Safety and legal teams must translate Musk’s identity and speech priorities into rules that can govern both subpoena challenges and account enforcement.
A change in Twitter’s approach would add to the platform precedent that Meta and YouTube later followed in retreating from policing political misinformation, raising the competitive stakes of moderation policy.

Third-order effects

If owner-directed identity and moderation policies displace durable platform commitments, anonymous speech protections become more contingent on individual proprietors than on institutional practice.
The pattern points to platform trust becoming inseparable from governance credibility: algorithm transparency alone does not resolve who sets speech, identity, and enforcement boundaries.

The trend: Large social platforms are concentrating consequential speech and identity governance in owner-led policy choices, making trust a core piece of platform infrastructure.

Discussion

@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all
@senmarkey Ed Markey on x
Elon Musk and a handful of billionaires now have dangerous influence over the most powerful online platforms. They can't be trusted, and self-regulation has failed. We must pass laws to protect privacy and promote algorithmic justice for internet users, especially for kids.
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
The guy bleating on for years about “cancel culture” is demanding that a lot of people get fired for their political views. https://twitter.com/...
@rottenindenmark Michael Hobbes on x
I think we'll look back on the last decade as a time when social media gave previously marginalized groups the ability to speak directly to elites and, as a result, elites lost their minds.
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
You cannot “match the law” and then also say you will “authenticate all humans” and block spam bots. The law protects anonymous speech. The law protects commercial speech. Every service that has ever tried this move has quickly retreated for the same obvious reasons https://twitt…
@samidh @samidh on x
Okay, I will try to keep this as simple as possible for Trust & Safety novices out there. Plenty of speech is not strictly illegal but is a horrible experience for people on a platform. Examples: Racism, Doxxing, Nudity, Spam, etc. So what do you do about it? 🧵... https://twitter…
@justinamash Justin Amash on x
Laws to “promote algorithmic justice” for the sake of the children. It's like a parody but from an actual senator. https://twitter.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
The past decade of internet history has been a confrontation between an idealized, U.S.-centric view of free speech and the zillion tradeoffs needed to let everyone truly have a say and feel free. The latest from me: https://www.nytimes.com/...
@benshapiro Ben Shapiro on x
Elon Musk has committed to nothing except more transparency and more free speech — and the Left is melting down. Which shows two things: 1. They hate transparency and free speech; 2. They always assumed Twitter opposed both, then gaslit everyone that Twitter wasn't biased.
@rbreich Robert Reich on x
Zuckerberg owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. Elon Musk owns Twitter. When multi-billionaires take control of our most vital platforms for communication, it's not a win for free speech. It's a win for oligarchy.
@parmy Parmy Olson on x
Musk is a brilliant businessman and marketer who mostly scoffs at policy makers. He has an engineer's mindset. Policy is not his strong suit.
@pmarca Marc Andreessen on x
New current thing just dropped: “algorithmic justice”. https://twitter.com/...
@popehat @popehat on x
@normative “And that's why I will restore full frontal nudity to the relaunched Club Penguin.”
@devincow @devincow on x
@monsterometer @weisselbergers I remember feeling safe and secure. What's it like?
@kimstrassel Kimberley Strassel on x
Washington currently has dangerous influence over the most powerful online platforms. And Washington most certainly can't be trusted. So we should be very worried when they promise to pass laws, especially in the name of “algorithmic justice.” https://twitter.com/...
@weisselbergers Allen Weisselberger on x
@PeterLamariana Activists and journalists working under cover of anonymity are why we know about most of the malfeasance. Imagine a Russia with the intel pipeline of courageous, endangered investigators cut off from the west. Picture a Ukrainian war where defenders might not risk…
@normative Julian Sanchez on x
This is an incredibly creepy, authoritarian conception of “free speech.” Instead of communities having different norms and standards of appropriate speech, there should be a single coercively enforced norm reflecting “the will of the people.” https://twitter.com/...
@greenhousenyt Steven Greenhouse on x
Elon Musk champions free speech, but not so much for his workers, especially ones who support a union The NLRB found that Tesla unlawfully fired & disciplined workers for pro-union activity & unlawfully prohibited workers form speaking to the news media. https://www.washingtonpos…
@samidh @samidh on x
In short if you want the free marketplace of ideas to prevail, you must deal with harmful actors who are within the bounds of the law but whose vitriol destroys participation. There's no perfect solution. So let's dispense with the rhetoric and talk honestly about the tradeoffs.
@devincow @devincow on x
@monsterometer @weisselbergers I understand, however, I've lived with credible threats for years.
@parmy Parmy Olson on x
I wonder if Musk is referring to U.S. “law” on free speech here. If so, there's a disturbing prospect Musk's Twitter will flout upcoming laws in Europe that require social media platforms to police hate speech more strictly. That will become a major headache for both sides... htt…
@weisselbergers Allen Weisselberger on x
Elon Musk has said he may eliminate anonymous accounts, placing activists, dissidents, stalking victims, foreign journalists, and targeted minorities in physical danger. Please RT and offer suggestions. Where should we relocate?
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
Sounds like Twitter could soon stop moderating all content that isn't plainly or explicitly illegal, based on this interpretation https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
This is just as simple as shipping a car with ‘full self-driving’ that can drive itself fully. https://twitter.com/...
@parmy Parmy Olson on x
But a huge part of running social media involves policy: dealing with govs, regulators, campaigners, making sure your Terms of Service strike a delicate balance of keeping users both engaged and legally healthy - in multiple jurisdictions. This will be tougher than he thinks.
@freedlander David Freedlander on x
Two months ago Musk tried to get a 19-year-old to shut down an account that used publicly available data to track down his private jet https://twitter.com/...
@juddlegum Judd Legum on x
This is an extremely facile understanding of free speech. China has numerous LAWS restricting speech. But, because they are laws, Musk believes the Chinese government doesn't infringe on free speech? https://twitter.com/...
@kevinroose Kevin Roose on x
Fun fact: a website called 8chan tried this exact “we only censor illegal speech” approach just a few years ago! Worked out great! https://twitter.com/...
@thedextriarchy Adi Robertson on x
if we're gonna speedrun the entire history of internet moderation on twitter can we at least make it weirder https://twitter.com/...
@breathenewwinds @breathenewwinds on x
Nobody fears free speech. People fear the being targeted with free speech for their sexuality, gender, economic position, etc., and they fear the actions that happen when “free speech” is used to activate extremists. Richest man on the earth and he's still an idiot. https://twitt…
@gspellchecker @gspellchecker on x
This Elon Musk takeover is terrifying. We can't just have people going around and saying what they think. The best way to avoid this fascism is for a team of unaccountable progressives to decide which thoughts are correct via some vague, mysterious & subjective terms of service
@erratarob @erratarob on x
If by “authenticating humans” @ElonMusk means anything like Facebook's “Real Names” travesty, I'll literally eat my hat. I mention this because it seems like everyone is willfully misreading Musk's comments. https://twitter.com/...
@evan_greer Evan Greer on x
Justin, you're usually pretty right about tech policy, but in this case you're wrong. The Algorithmic Justice and Transparency Act is actually a good bill, and one of the few efforts at regulating tech responsibly rather than blowing up Section 230 or calling for more censorship …
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Actual free speech experts have spent so much time and effort exploring the ins and outs and tradeoffs involved in free speech and content moderation and every single one of them knows this is 100% wrong and ignorant. Not a good first look. https://twitter.com/...
@alt_uscis @alt_uscis on x
yes, do know this from personal experience. https://www.nbcnews.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@pmarca Marc Andreessen on x
The tragedy is that there are any number of older authority figures who know they should be on the side of free speech, but are cowering in fear instead. A void of leadership beyond my prior imagination. https://twitter.com/...
@levynews Ari Levy on x
fear = don't instinctively trust the world's richest person https://twitter.com/...
@isocockerell Isobel Cockerell on x
Elon Musk says he's going to unlock free speech around the globe. Experts say he could simply turn Twitter into a “cesspool of hate speech, spam, and porn.” @ellerybiddle for @CodaStory https://www.codastory.com/...
@anthony Anthony DeRosa on x
“Our political parties are really, really adept at understanding how the algorithms work, how to create trends, how to make something shareable,” Pahwa said. “What they excel at is essentially fueling hate.” https://www.codastory.com/...
@aprilaser @aprilaser on x
The vast majority of Twitter users are outside the US. The implications of poor content moderation and rules that promote “free speech” over safety in India and Ethiopia where Twitter is quite popular are immense https://www.codastory.com/...
@katia_patin Katia Patin on x
The vast majority of twitter users live outside of the US. @ellerybiddle runs through what Musk's rules-free twitter can mean for people in India, Ethiopia, Nigeria and elsewhere https://www.codastory.com/...
@laprofmme @laprofmme on x
“Even if Twitter is still important in the world today, a few years of Musk making bad choices might ensure it's less influential in coming years. You might not have to worry about quitting Twitter in disgust because Musk owns it. Twitter might quit you soon enough.” https://twit…
@saeed_ahmed Saeed Ahmed on x
“Let's put Twitter in context. In terms of users, it's not among the top 10 social media platforms in the world. It's behind Telegram, Snapchat, and even Pinterest. It has about 436M users. All of the top seven have about or more than 1B users"https://slate.com/...
@loganaheiman Logan A. Heiman on x
I love the entire section @sivavaid devotes in this piece to telling E*on re: his “open source” promises: words mean things. https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
as @sivavaid puts it... “there's a reason no smart buyer has already purchased twitter.” (and a reason the board ultimately took elon's offer.) https://slate.com/...
@nminow Nell Minow on x
A fool and his money.....Why the Twitter Board capitulated to letting Elon Musk take it over despite having no clear plan to enhance revenue, turn a profit, or even grow user numbers. #corpgov https://slate.com/... via @slate
@jswatz John Schwartz on x
“The fact that Twitter has been a business failure since its inception is no secret. It's been put up for sale many times, yet no smart buyer concluded that its potential for growth or revenue outweighed its headaches and liabilities.” ⁦@sivavaid⁩ https://slate.com/...
@cjsprigman Chris Sprigman on x
Siva: “You might not have to worry about quitting Twitter in disgust because Musk owns it. Twitter might quit you soon enough.” https://twitter.com/...
@thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x
Just like a lot of homebuyers these days, Elon Musk waived the inspection https://www.bloomberg.com/... (via @MichelleF_Davis and @LianaBaker) https://twitter.com/...
@briannawu Brianna Wu on x
I've never talked about it before - but in the aftermath of Gamergate. I worked extensively with Twitter Trust and Safety to help improve Twitter's policies. That's everything Elon Musk wants to dismantle. Thank you, @kattenbarge for telling my story. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@realkrauswife Rachel Kraus on x
Big same. I remember being impressed a few yrs ago when Twitter announced it would take action on “dehumanizing language” + the nuanced explanation they gave of why eg comparing people to vermin can cause real world harm. That was just the beginning. I'm crushed for them and us. …
@swodinsky @swodinsky on x
i've seen so, so many people at twitter that pour blood / sweat / tears / etc into making this platform less of a shitshow. it's crushing to see a single whiny billionaire undermine countless ppl's labor “just cuz” https://twitter.com/...

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