Discussion

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  I think @elonmusk has made a huge mistake, making himself the global face of content moderation at a critical moment of struggle with governments, while maintaining massive personal exposure to challenging countries.

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  Comedy is now legal on Twitter

• @oversightboard @oversightboard on x

  Independent oversight of content moderation has a vital role to play in building trust in platforms and ensuring users are treated fairly. This is a model we have been proving since 2020. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss Twitter's plans in more detail with the company.…

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  Things to watch for: - Elimination of state media labels - Cutoff of research agreements and APIs - Shutdown of Twitter's foreign influence op archive - Resignations of key security, threat intel leaders All things we discuss in tonight's podcast! Coming soon!

• @mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x

  lol elon musk has been in charge of twitter for like 16 hours and he already came up with a “assemble a group of notables so i'm not held personally responsible for content moderation” https://twitter.com/...

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter's content moderation policies https://twitter.com/...

• @sep Sarah Personette on x

  Had a great discussion with @elonmusk last evening! Our continued commitment to brand safety for advertisers remains unchanged. Looking forward to the future! https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  With a 1/4 of current revenue and a much larger fraction of Tesla's future free cash flow at stake in China, what is Musk going to do with these public requests to lift labeling on state propagandists and private asks to stop looking for covert influence campaigns? https://twitte…

• @tomcoates Tom Coates on x

  @DaveLeeFT It's such a flawed idea I can't even figure out where people should start with it. Is this council per country? Is it international? The people will be chosen by Musk and team, so clearly won't be impartial. If they are vaguely diverse they'll never agree on anything.

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  This conflict is going to be most prominent in the People's Republic of China. Tesla makes cars and batteries in Shanghai, and recognized ~$5B in revenue last *quarter* in China. Latest 10-Q: https://tesla-cdn.thron.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @kenroth Kenneth Roth on x

  It is as if @ElonMusk is inviting the Chinese government to do its censorship-abroad thing and say, if @Tesla wants to continue to enjoy the Chinese market, @Twitter must stop allowing Tweets (like mine) on Beijing's persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. https://twitter.com/…

• @gchahal Gurbaksh Singh Chahal on x

  How about your shady f*cked up employees that are targeting me and my family? When are you trashing them out? @elonmusk it's time to step up to the plate. No more jokes or pranks. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason @jason on x

  Very important note... https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Like, say, an Oversight Board? https://twitter.com/...

• @jwherrman John Herrman on x

  People who know me well won't be surprised to learn that I think social media runs on repressed shame https://nymag.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  Funny thing is, here's another thing that Twitter actually did... and got blasted for doing so as people insisted it was a “censorship council” (it wasn't). https://twitter.com/...

• @szhang_ds @szhang_ds on x

  Elon Musk is the equivalent of a politician promising to cut taxes, increase military/social spending, and eliminate the national debt. All of these ideas sound excellent to the aam admi, but are collectively impossible. You hence have no idea what he will do now in-office.

• @balajis Balaji Srinivasan on x

  As for what Elon does, I'm cautiously optimistic. Let's see what happens. Early signs are good. Bans are already getting reversed. I do think we'll need decentralization to protect global freedom of speech, but if we're lucky this gets us some breathing room...

• @cynthiadritchie Cynthia D. Ritchie on x

  @OversightBoard ... has the same problems twitter had: politically motivated individuals (some of them of Indian origin) who close accts they dislike. Meta also has political units w/ individuals masquerading as collaborators who either hack or scam their way into verified accts.

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  This is truly an unprecedented situation. Facebook and Google are blocked in the PRC and their CEOs do not have massive personal wealth tied up there. But there have been situations where these companies have flirted with the PRC, leading to employee leaks and protests.

• @amasad @amasad on x

  Facebook has a had a fairly diverse oversight board and both the left and the right are still upset at them. Losing game. https://twitter.com/...

• @profitstaken Peter Tarr on x

  @unusual_whales Because $META is exactly who you should be looking to for advice. https://twitter.com/...

• @rebeccamkern Rebecca Kern on x

  Interesting that @OversightBoard is offering to help Musk with their his content moderation council — will be watching! https://twitter.com/...

• @szhang_ds @szhang_ds on x

  E.g. on free speech: - “Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.” - 3/4/22 - “If there are tweets that are wrong and bad, those should be either deleted or made invisible” - 05/10/22 - “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all-hellscape where anything can be said” - 10/27/22

• @blakereid Blake E. Reid on x

  The Facebook Oversight Board was an elaborate farce to avoid regulatory oversight by laundering accountability; the Twitter CoMo council looks less like that and more like a hurried, panicked idea to placate advertisers before they jump ship in droves.

• @johnvolt7 John on x

  @OversightBoard Who funds these “independent” oversight boards? That's the real question.

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  Someone handed the OSB's Twitter account over to the sales team... 😉 https://twitter.com/...

• @edmundlee Edmund Lee on x

  Owning a media company is so very different from rockets or cars or payment platforms. There's no algorithm or repeatable process for editing. It's always by hand and it's always hard. https://twitter.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  The Facebook Oversight Board has been a failure, both in terms of the company and in terms of the citizenry. Discuss

• @nxthompson @nxthompson on x

  This is a key point. How do you have fair content moderation policies, and support free speech, when your other companies are beholden to the governments of Germany, China, etc? https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  In short, Musk has put himself in an untenable situation. He has already publicly committed himself to meddling in Twitter's platform policies in an unprecedented manner while also presumably thinking he can continue to fly around the world and shake the hands of authoritarians.

• @llana @llana on x

  @OversightBoard 🤢Facebook/Instagram/META practices and example are essentially what we're trying NOT to do on Twitter. If that comes over here, I would probably leave the platform. Without the private friends and family hostage retention of FB, Twitter wouldn't be worth using. FB…

• @zdfs @zdfs on x

  @OversightBoard @MikeIsaac You've been “proving”? Lmao. Ok bud.

• @mims Christopher Mims on x

  ⤵️ former chief security officer at Facebook explains how Musk's ownership of both Tesla and Twitter allows governments to hold the former hostage in order to influence the latter https://twitter.com/...

• @erratarob @erratarob on x

  Of course Trump says this. It's how Trump works. He's a little child who says “I didn't want to play with you guys anyway” when not invited. https://www.foxbusiness.com/ ...

• @normative Julian Sanchez on x

  In the interest of fairness, at least half the council will consist of avowed Nazis. https://twitter.com/...

• @kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x

  Elon's big innovation was the facebook oversight board https://twitter.com/...

• @szhang_ds @szhang_ds on x

  “don't like Facebook. Gives me the willies.” - 2018 “It is essential to show Twitter users advertising that is as relevant as possible to their needs. Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!” -10/27 aka, adopting FB's ads model despite willies.

• @aleph_one @aleph_one on x

  Excelente analysis by Alex. https://twitter.com/...

• @yashar @yashar on x

  Like I said...he only gained control of the company last night. The idea that he's been able to make all these changes so far that have benefited certain users is ridiculous. https://twitter.com/...

• @karissabe Karissa Bell on x

  Meta has said it would like other companies to use its Oversight Board... https://www.engadget.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  After the new content moderation board meets, right? This is exactly what I'm talking about. He's preening for the fanboys, but the KSA, PRC or UAE might see his involvement in day-to-day decisions as serious. https://twitter.com/...

• @szhang_ds @szhang_ds on x

  In any case, a lot of people will start being very disappointed very soon. Or maybe Elon will manage to point fingers successfully. He just can't achieve everything he wants to because of the deep company.

• @annaleen Annalee Newitz on x

  Must-read thread about content moderation in the new authoritarian age https://twitter.com/...

• @adamparkhomenko Adam Parkhomenko on x

  He means you can say the n-word now because that's what comedy is to scumbags. https://twitter.com/...

• @bborrman Brandon on x

  This isn't currently working at Facebook and is really ill-suited to a platform where content moves at the speed of Twitter. But ok. 🤷‍♂️ https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  He bought Twitter at a massive overvaluation, and now has a fiduciary responsibility to his junior partners and to service the massive debt he took on. He can't easily walk away; an IPO or sale for a profit will require massive revenue growth and the macro situation improving.

• @mehdirhasan Mehdi Hasan on x

  Why do I suspect ‘widely diverse viewpoints’ means that someone from Breitbart or Newsmax will be on it? This feels like a rerun of Facebook getting the Daily Caller to be part of its fact-checking operation because... ‘diverse viewpoints.’ https://twitter.com/...

• @daphnehk Daphne Keller on x

  Is this just a long-winded way of saying “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen”? https://twitter.com/...

• @michaelcbender Michael C. Bender on x

  “I like Elon, but I'm staying on Truth,” Trump tells @BrookeSingman https://www.foxbusiness.com/ ...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  A million questions on this but sounds on the surface like FB's Oversight Board. Also presumably this means there will be no Trump return for at least a little longer https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  This pattern will be repeated around the world. Brazil is having an election this weekend, and observers are afraid that Bolsonaro will not respect a loss at the polls. Musk met with him and discussed Brazil's critical supply of minerals for Tesla's batteries earlier this year. h…

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  Twitter has been aggressively fending off attempts by PRC intelligence services to operate in the US political sphere, but just two days ago @Mandiant documented a PRC influence operation aimed at manipulating the US election. https://www.mandiant.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  The closest equivalent is Apple: skillful PRC salami-slicing since Apple entered the Chinese phone market in 2012 has led to Apple doing more for the Chinese Communist Party than any other tech company. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @derektmead @derektmead on x

  Content Moderation Board is an extremely funny answer for anyone who's survived the flywheel of online media solution generation. I demand a seat on it!

• @dexbarton Dex Hunter-Torricke on x

  Independent oversight of social media content moderation is absolutely the right direction to go. Companies and CEOs should make fewer decisions about major content issues alone. That is the model the @OversightBoard was designed to test and refine. https://t.co/FxPe9GyKmY

• @tomcoates Tom Coates on x

  @DaveLeeFT If he gets this stuff wrong then the space becomes a wasteland and everyone leaves. If he retains any significant protections then his own followers and the right will turn against him almost immediately.

• @tomcoates Tom Coates on x

  @DaveLeeFT The policies won't matter at all if they're not also enforced, and enforcement is its own set of conundrums, particularly if you plan to cut great swathes of staff in those roles.

• @samfbiddle Sam Biddle on x

  making predictions is always a bad idea but I predict Elon Twitter will function more or less the same way Pre-Elon Twitter did: capricious, reactive content moderation decisions that never really make much sense or show much in the way of consistency

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  this (if it happens) knocks down another story that went up late last night saying he was reinstating all accounts Monday pretty safe to say no one knows anything right now https://twitter.com/...

• @samfbiddle Sam Biddle on x

  Private Twitter's fundamental dilemma is the irreconcilable tension between ending moderation so Musk can seem Extremely Based to his fanboys and continuing moderation in order to keep risk-averse advertisers calm in order to continue functioning as a business. Best of luck! http…

• @fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x

  nothing says “this is my fourth company” like after months promising change your day one decision is to form a committee.

• @mattsheffield Matthew Sheffield on x

  Donald Trump is still suing Twitter for banning him. And the arguments he's using to have it treated as a “common carrier” completely contradict the capricious and biased manner in which Truth Social regularly bans people. Via @mmasnick https://www.techdirt.com/...

• @martinsfp @martinsfp on x

  (obviously he *can* overrule it on a whim - it's his platform now)

• @beschizza Rob Beschizza on x

  Elon: The bird is free! *advertisers whisper in ear* Elon: There will be a Content Moderation Commission.

• @mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x

  when zuckerberg tried to kick the trump decision to the facebook oversight board, they rightly kicked it back to him and said that as the CEO/founder/chairman/controlling shareholder it should be his call https://t.co/02JPUppwdq

• @kari_paul Kari Paul on x

  sounds like the FB oversight board which as we all know has been very useful and effective! https://twitter.com/...

• @gavreilly Gavan Reilly on x

  Hereafter “the court of private opinion” https://twitter.com/...

• @paykhar @paykhar on x

  I need to be on that council to represent the viewpoints of tribal elders. https://twitter.com/...

• @epicciuto Elizabeth Picciuto on x

  See, if it were me, I might have had my ideas for this ready when I bought the thing. https://twitter.com/...

• @goangelo Angelo Carusone on x

  This is when advertisers should engage the most here. All the more reason for the major players to make it crystal clear that they will walk if Musk follows through with his promises to roll back brand safety and community safeguards. https://twitter.com/...

• @timcast Tim Pool on x

  bad move imo Twitter should pardon political prisoners and use the new council for future enforcement https://twitter.com/...

• @lozzafox Laurence Fox on x

  Diversity of opinion is the only diversity i am interested in. Dividing people by shaking them down into intersectional and immutable tribes is why we are where we are culturally. https://twitter.com/...

• @semaforben Ben Smith on x

  This is ... an extremely normal, corporate way to deal with pressing problems — kick the can, convene a blue ribbon committee and avoid being jammed up by political or media pressure. https://twitter.com/...

• @gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x

  Twitter will have its own Facebook Oversight Board https://twitter.com/...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  Twitter already has one of these, so this almost certainly means it will be disbanded/replaced. https://twitter.com/...

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  Wow sensible 😮 https://twitter.com/...

• @hasanthehun @hasanthehun on x

  dont care. unban trump. https://twitter.com/...

• @mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x

  This is like when trump got elected but somehow dumber https://twitter.com/...

• @ndrew_lawrence Andrew Lawrence on x

  like 3 hours after tweeting this he announces that nazis are allowed back and im no marketing genius but i personally wouldnt want my brand appearing next to swastikas https://twitter.com/...

• @esqueer_ Alejandra Caraballo on x

  I think this tips their hand to the biggest threat to Twitter now, advertiser flight. Civil rights and anti-hate speech orgs need to put immense pressure on digital advertisers to ensure that meaningful moderations stays in place. Advertisers don't want ads next to hate speech. h…

• @leahculver Leah Culver on x

  Happy Friday all. https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  Among the people Musk has brought into the fold at Twitter include his personal lawyer, Alex Spiro; @DavidSacks, a friend and VC; and @kayvz, a former Twittter exec who was fired under the previous CEO. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  Spoke to the NYT about how having a content moderation council for Twitter is a good idea in concept, but it serves at the pleasure of the new King (@elonmusk). “He can form the council, and he can dissolve it,” That's why we need #antitrust & real choice https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @profcarroll David Carroll on x

  “If Twitter becomes the go-to platform for the knucklehead brigade, advertisers will run, not walk” -@AdContrarian https://twitter.com/...

• @vassko @vassko on x

  @Techmeme Nothing good will happen with David Sucks there now 💥

• @koush @koush on x

  He made every Twitter engineer print out the code they wrote in the past 60 days for review before his lawyers warned him that was a bad idea lol https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  Musk made himself the personal face of Twitter's content policies at an important time in the US, with several cases pending at SCOTUS. He seems to be learning why Zuck paid $250M+ to build an external Oversight Board. https://twitter.com/...

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  Yes, people, @vijaya was one of the most important defenders of free speech around. Here are some receipts. https://www.techdirt.com/...

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  People do not realize how much @vijaya did for free speech. Twitter is less of a free speech platform without her. https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  Probably shouldn't have fired those policy and legal executives who have spent more time than anyone fighting governments to protect anonymous speech. https://twitter.com/...

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  “Gadde did more for free speech on the internet than almost anyone else I can think of.” This is going to be the hardest lesson for everyone in this whole thing: Elon is now in the business of fighting off governments around the world. https://www.techdirt.com/...

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  @SolasM3 @vijaya “far more willing” than WHOM? Seriously, Twitter had by far the most permissive policies of any social media website. Also, the word you mean is “censorial” not “censorious” which means something different, and both are wrong.

• @solasm3 @solasm3 on x

  @mmasnick @vijaya I can't speak to your macro view, but I can speak to the micro. Gadde's team was far more willing to side on the idea of harm and issuing bans to users. This gives the impression of being censorious. More so when offense does not fit the listed infraction.

• @jasonrantz @jasonrantz on x

  Vijaya Gadde is the executive who banned Trump and censored the NY Post reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop. All she's done for speech is stifle it. What left-wingers mean when they praise Vijaya is that she made it so they didn't have to read things they disagreed with. https://t…

• @benshapiro Ben Shapiro on x

  Except, of course, for the simple fact that there is no hard and fast standard for the “vulnerable” vs. the “hateful” when you deem anything you like vulnerable and anything you dislike hateful https://twitter.com/...

• @becketadams T. Becket Adams on x

  under @vijaya, twitter became a place where randos with 100 followers were banned for tweeting “learn to code,” but the ayatollah could call for the extermination of Israel. twitter's approach to free speech has *long* been a totally incomprehensible & oftentimes vindictive mess …

• @piersmorgan Piers Morgan on x

  Ironically, this is a lie. https://twitter.com/...

• @evacide Eva on x

  Mike Masnick writes about why Vijaya Gadde was good for Twitter and why firing her is a bad sign for things to come. Please enjoy the many links to actual stories and studies about Twitter's content moderation policies. No vibes. https://twitter.com/...

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  Musk's immediate firing of Twitter's trust and safety chief, @vijaya, was even colder than it seemed. @lizzadwoskin with this nugget in the Post's live blog just now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @robpegoraro Rob Pegoraro on x

  Two outstanding posts about our new corporate overlord here: • @mmasnick on how Musk got off to a bad start by firing Twitter's trust-and-safety lead. • @reckless on the internally conflicted mess that Musk now owns. https://www.techdirt.com/... https://t.co/fRoP9PcqCy

• @gdickinson Guy Dickinson on x

  There is much to critique about Twitter—the company and product—but its principled stance on pushing back on government intrusion, over-broad subpoenas, and takedown demands globally is one of the things that made me proud to have worked there. https://twitter.com/...

• @ncri_io @ncri_io on x

  Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on @Twitter. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs. For example, over the last 12 hours, the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average. https://twitter.com/...

• @esqueer_ Alejandra Caraballo on x

  We're off to quite a start with groyper Nazi trolls feeling explicitly emboldened by Elon to threaten murder and use racist, anti Semitic, and homophobic slurs. I'm sure the advertisers are going to love having their ads next to this. https://twitter.com/...

• @anildash @anildash on x

  Every abuse report I made to Twitter under its new leadership yesterday was rejected, saying that the accounts are not violating policy. Two were aimed at Black people, one was aimed at a Jewish person, each explicitly used the most common slur used to target those groups.

• @deanobeidallah @deanobeidallah on x

  Elon Musk buys Twitter- that cheering you are hearing is from Neo Nazis, white supremacists and MAGA scum cheering their expected return to Twitter.

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  Seeing a lot of confusion around this today: @kanyewest was not un-banned or reinstated today. He was never banned. His account was temporarily frozen. That freeze was quickly lifted weeks ago, according to two sources. He's been able to tweet for weeks.

• @mnateshyamalan @mnateshyamalan on x

  it's so funny how every free speech guy posting slurs rn will also see a tweet that says some shit like “jesus christ has bottom energy” and reply “i am calling 911”

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  Emboldened trolls are spewing racist slurs and Nazi memes since @elonmusk took the helm of the company. Hate is rampant and one post screaming the n-word has more than 4,000 likes https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @davidcorndc David Corn on x

  My question: @elonmusk says that there's been no change (yet) in the moderation policy. So is this allowed under the moderation policy or is that policy not being enforced in the chaos of the ownership shift? https://twitter.com/...

• @mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x

  Advertisers love 4chan so this should go great for musk https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @miafarrow Mia Farrow on x

  Minutes after Elon Musk became Twitter's owner, the platform was filled with profanity and a torrent of racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, and transphobic hate speech https://www.vice.com/...

• @sundersays Sunder Katwala on x

  It would be very good for researchers of online hate & in the media to specifically track the increased use of the n-word on Twitter over the next few days - and make reversing that a basic test of Musk's ownership and stewardship of the site. https://twitter.com/...

• @sheeraf Sheera Frenkel on x

  Far right accounts (who have previously spread misinformation about the vote) are seeing a surge of followers since Musk took over Twitter. Misinformation researchers are already worried: https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @brandyzadrozny Brandy Zadrozny on x

  Yet to be seen just how Elon Musk will change things on this website, but the people who make a living off trolling, misinfo, and rage politics are pretty psyched. From @JasonAbbruzzese and me. https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @tomcoates Tom Coates on x

  Right-wing people in my mentions saying they don't believe people are getting lots of racist and homophobic abuse because they aren't seeing it, almost as if the people who routinely get that kind of abuse might not be white, straight right-wing people. https://twitter.com/...

• @katienotopoulos Katie Notopoulos on x

  Testing if my shadowban has been lifted. If you see this tweet, reply with your credit card #

• @derektmead @derektmead on x

  it is absolutely impossible that the website that these types of posters want will ever be worth $44 billion. how twitter's new leadership will respond is anyone's guess but that's the very simple truth https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @dag_investments @dag_investments on x

  Did Musk literally just delete all the moderation code Twitter had?! True, it wasn't great, but probably better than zero. Wow! https://twitter.com/...

• @7im Tim Dickinson on x

  the hellscape is here, thanks elon https://twitter.com/...

• @a_picazo Alheli Picazo on x

  Yes, and people are under no obligation to help them through amplification via criticism or calling-out. https://twitter.com/...

• @drewharwell Drew Harwell on x

  @elonmusk .@ncri_io, which has been tracking social media speech trends for years, has seen a Twitter spike in n-word use from bigots and losers since Elon bought in: https://twitter.com/...

• @esqueer_ Alejandra Caraballo on x

  Now would be a good time to have a head of trust and safety to manage the influx of nazi trolls coming on to Twitter. Oh right, Elon just fired her. Expect this place to devolve into a cess pit over the coming weeks.

• @_henrybolton @_henrybolton on x

  The shear arrogance of this tweet from @ThierryBreton is characteristic of the world view of EU's leadership - They think they're superior to us mere mortals. We should thank our lucky stars that 17.4 million of us saw the sense to leave. Now let's make the most of it. https://tw…

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  Remember, the DSA's rules are extremely anti-free speech and extremely limiting (listen to our @techdirt podcast next week to get terrified about what the EU is doing). And Breton here got Musk to endorse them. https://twitter.com/...

• @tomfitton Tom Fitton on x

  Angry at the possibility of more free speech, leftist French EU bureaucrat threatens American company. As Biden admin also hates the First Amendment, Congress will have to step up next year to defend Americans' rights. @ElonMusk @Twitter https://twitter.com/...

• @czlowiek__bobr @czlowiek__bobr on x

  Highly probable. @elonmusk has dealt with petty con people till now. EU parliament and commission - that's another level of organized crime to stand up against... https://twitter.com/...

• @hansmahncke Hans Mahncke on x

  Fly by our rules means that European “free” speech is subject to formalities, conditions and restrictions that are necessary in a democratic society, restrictions that are in the interests of national security, restrictions for public safety, morals, etc. An Orwellian nightmare. …

• @rob_roos @rob_roos on x

  I was a negotiator on this #DSA file and I opposed the final agreement. Too much power for #BigTech is dangerous. But too much power for government technocrats is just as bad. https://twitter.com/...

• @umarebru Ebru Umar on x

  Go FUCK yourself you dictatorial appointed european twat https://twitter.com/...

• @adamthierer Adam Thierer on x

  Mr. Breton should consider asking himself why Europe does not have a Twitter, Google, Facebook, Amazon, or Apple of their own, but are instead stuck threatening US-based companies. Innovation culture matters, and all those 🇪🇺 regulations destroyed Europe's a long time ago. https:…

• @karissabe Karissa Bell on x

  Elon loves rules, this will go well, I'm sure https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @scottadamssays Scott Adams on x

  I hate this guy. https://twitter.com/...

• @nigel_farage Nigel Farage on x

  Their arrogance knows no bounds. https://twitter.com/...

• @lukewearechange Luke Rudkowski on x

  Governments hate free speech, case in point https://twitter.com/...

• @cnbctech @cnbctech on x

  EU official warns Musk he'll have to ‘fly by our rules’ as he buys Twitter https://www.cnbc.com/...

• Vox Peter Kafka on x

  The Big Tech boom is over and Wall Street knows it

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  Sorry bro https://www.theverge.com/...

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  Dear Twitter Advertisers https://twitter.com/...

• @drewharwell Drew Harwell on x

  New: An emboldened cast of trolls has spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours since @elonmusk freed the bird. Musk says no “free-for-all hellscape,” but hate is already rampant: One post screaming the n-word has more than 4,000 likes https://www.washingtonpos…

• @zubymusic @zubymusic on x

  @elonmusk Yes. Also, Twitter should find a way to compensate/monetisation partner with its top creators. Like every other social media app. A small % create all the high engagement content and keep the site active.

• @photomatt Matt Mullenweg on x

  This is an unfortunately good summary of why running a social network is so hard, as I've learned with @tumblr. I am wishing Twitter the best and also hope this doesn't slow down Tesla or SpaceX, which I think are critical to the future. https://www.theverge.com/...

• @tedcruz Ted Cruz on x

  The most important development for Free Speech in decades. https://twitter.com/...

• @courtneymilan Courtney Milan on x

  *nods* I don't think enough people realize how HARD content moderation is. Too little destroys your user base and reduces it to a crowd of edgy assholes. Too much destroys your user base and reduces it to nothing. https://twitter.com/...

• @jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x

  A+ real talk from @reckless to the new owner of Twitter. https://www.theverge.com/... Recommended. https://twitter.com/...

• @martinsfp @martinsfp on x

  “You cannot reasonably expect to collect any meaningful ad revenue if you do not promise advertisers ‘brand safety’.. you have to ban racism, sexism, transphobia... speech that is totally legal in the United States but reveals people to be total assholes” https://www.theverge.com…

• @mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x

  I hope Elon Musk reads this https://twitter.com/...

• @ibjiyongi @ibjiyongi on x

  ‘you can write as many polite letters to advertisers as you want, but you cannot reasonably expect to collect any meaningful advertising revenue if you do not promise those advertisers “brand safety.”’ https://www.theverge.com/...

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  @ZubyMusic Absolutely

• @film_girl Chriscreama Warren on x

  I've had 4 or 5 people text me this link today, so I want to share it again. Just fantastic work from @reckless on what feels like the definitive assessment of what Elon is walking into and what he did to himself https://www.theverge.com/...

• @waltmossberg Walt Mossberg on x

  A really great, no-holds-barred, analysis by @reckless of what @elonmusk really bought when he bought @Twitter and how it will likely affect him and his other companies. It's a must read. https://twitter.com/...

• @katienotopoulos Katie Notopoulos on x

  This is me at my most vulnerable, admitting I actually deeply enjoy using Twitter, the most embarrassing thing to say out loud https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...

• @mcwm Mike Murphy on x

  imagine paying 44 billion dollars to let some rubes tweet

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  “I know you're just like me: not hot enough for Instagram, too lazy for Substack. Twitter is our perfect sweet spot. This is our heaven. I can't lose this. We can't.” perfect piece by @katienotopoulos https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...

• @jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x

  Rarely have I seen a single piece receive such immediate, universal acclaim. If all hot takes were half this good! Question for @reckless: Curious whether this flowed onto the keyboard or you've been stewing this bird for weeks. Either way, great work. https://www.theverge.com/..…

• @kashhill @kashhill on x

  This is v good: “The asset is the user base: hopelessly addicted politicians, reporters, celebrities, and other people who should know better but keep posting anyway. You! You, Elon Musk, are addicted to Twitter. You're the asset. You just bought yourself for $44 billion dollars”…

• @harryh @harryh on x

  @pt Oh sure, I have some nits too. Was speaking mostly about the fact that Elon is now in charge of a bunch of essentially unsolvable political/moderation problems where no matter what he does a lot of people will be mad and doing that job is really not very fun at all.

• @fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x

  ah. It's the Facebook board. Outsource those tough decisions to a committee! world's most successful inventors does it again https://t.co/B07H2e7RRC

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  What if Elon allows everyone to use Twitter (even the worst people), but returns the platform exclusively to its original use case: only tweeting about what you had for breakfast.

• @hblodget Henry Blodget on x

  Yes! “Freedom of speech” is an important concept when limited to what it legally means: The gov't can't throw you in jail for criticizing it. But being forced to listen to uncivil idiots rant and hurl insults is “a hellscape” that most decent people and advertisers avoid. https:/…

• @esqueer_ Alejandra Caraballo on x

  This is what Musk has emboldened and exactly what free speech absolutism on social media results in, nazi trolls. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @robmanuel @robmanuel on x

  Anyway, good luck moving from naughtiest kid in class, to headmaster, and finding out the hard way, the reason the teacher has so many irritating rules is because managing loads of people is very hard. Herding kittens and all that.

• @mmfa @mmfa on x

  Blue chip advertisers have to decide if this is where they want to put millions of dollars - hard to see it being worth it. https://www.mediamatters.org/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @parkermolloy Parker Molloy on x

  Honestly, if you're a brand and you spend a cent advertising on Twitter from here on out, you deserve to be associated with this sort of stuff. https://twitter.com/...

• @brooklynmarie Brooke Binkowski on x

  Absolutely predictable. Great job all around everybody https://twitter.com/...

• @lolacoaster Kristin Chirico on x

  If you are feeling a certain way this morning about Twitter's new overlord, here is a lovely, big heaping pile of shadenfreude https://twitter.com/...

• @rottenindenmark Michael Hobbes on x

  I have no doubt that Elon will apply the same intellectual rigor to complicated free speech issues that be brought to solving urban traffic. https://www.theverge.com/...

• @cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x

  I am sure Musk (who is already writing exec speak letters to advertisers) will know to handle this with aplomb without upsetting the racists who see him as their bird app liberator. he's a rocket scientist after all! https://twitter.com/...

• @charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x

  Fantastic piece. These bits in particular. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @waxpancake Andy Baio on x

  Elon Musk wants to run a thriving, profitable social network with little content moderation, a thing that's literally impossible, unleashing a world of hurt on himself. A $44 billion self-own. https://www.theverge.com/...

• @adastra1930 Alison Pitt on x

  This Verge piece is a great articulation of why Twitter isn't what you think it is. Like Amazon is not a retail company, Apple is not a computer company and Google is not a search engine. Also this line: “the Supreme Court, ...a group of uncool weirdos with lifetime appointments”…

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  Fuck. Here's what I wish I was clever enough to write. This is pitch perfect. https://t.co/JMoa7gGbZW

• @reclaimthenethq @reclaimthenethq on x

  Twitter wasn't even growing *with* compromises. https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeelgan Mike Elgan on x

  Hey, Elon: “You can make all the promises about “free speech” you want, but the dull reality is that you still have to ban a bunch of legal speech if you want to make money.” Let THAT sink in. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @scottlowe Scott Lowe on x

  If there's any solace to be found in Musk buying Twitter, it's that it's certain to be a nightmare dumpster fire for him and his other interests. @reckless perfectly summarizes why: https://twitter.com/...

• @fxshaw Frank X. Shaw on x

  Super clear analysis by @reckless. https://twitter.com/...

• @joannastern Joanna Stern on x

  “You're the asset. You just bought yourself for $44 billion dollars.” https://twitter.com/...

• @rjcc Richard Lawler on x

  The $44 billion Twitter Blue subscription https://twitter.com/...

• @cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x

  “You! You, Elon Musk, are addicted to Twitter. You're the asset. You just bought yourself for $44 billion dollars."https://t.co/lirXNyCGBO