Merged Musk buys Twitter!/ Elon Musk puts Twitter deal on hold....

[Dr. Keith]

I had just over $150 cash sitting in a brokerage account and just bought 3 shares @ $50.02. Crap shoot but its fun having even a little skin in the game.

So, if he buys it you just made an easy $12. Not bad.

I guess the price reflects the chance that he may not buy it.

 

[angrysoba]

One suggestion he has made, I think, is to make Twitter subscription-based. That will probably make him money, I expect, and may have the benefit of reducing spambots and drive away some of the worst users.

That said, it puts Twitter on the path to elitism and many people will obviously not want to pay or won’t be able to afford paying, so membership will drop off massively, unless there is some way of making a costs different depending on where in the world someone is. I guess troll farms will move to low rent countries or at least that’s what their VPNs will say.

Anyway, I doubt I will continue to use Twitter if I have to pay. I also think there is something a bit grotesque at the idea of people paying for the privilege of providing content for someone else.

 

[I Am The Scum]

Elon Musk has absolutely no clue what he is stepping into.

The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all

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.

If Musk actually attempts to implement an If-it's-legal-then-it's-allowed policy, then it will not last more than a week. Spam, targeted harassment, doxxing, and even some forms of threat and defamation will be on the table.

 

[dudalb]

Musk is a strange bird. He can certainly be erratic, and even mean.

But before we assume he’ll ruin Twitter, at least consider his track record with other endeavors:

Making Tesla a major, successful player in the EV world, pushing other manufacturers to play catch up, all of which overall reduce carbon emissions.

Making reusable boosters a reality, drastically reducing the cost of getting a payload into orbit, allowing…

Launching a gazillion small satellites into orbit to provide reliable access to relatively high speed internet to millions who could not otherwise get it.

I could relate to the doomsaying about Twitter’s future if Musk’s past was littered with ill conceived business plans that resulted in failure. As it is, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on Twitter.

Question is can he make money outside of high tech transportation.
Like you, I love what he has done with Space X, but I think he also says and does and lot of really stupid things. he is just like his hero Tesla..an unstable genius. He can have a brilliant idea one day, and a just plain stupic, bat crap crazy idea the next.

 

[Robin]

I don't see much mystery, though he could change his mind. I've thought all along that he wants misinformation to be allowed on Twitter, or at least misinformation that he likes.

This is a guy who ignored Covid mandates at his own factory, kept the plant open when he was supposed to close it, and basically does whatever he wants.

In my opinion, he is against Twitter's policing practices and him buying it is a billionaire version of a temper tantrum. I could be wrong.

I was thinking that him buying it was a way of ensuring that conspiracy theories and misinformation promoting the idea that the Democrats stole the election could be spread unimpeded in the run up to November.

I could be wrong but given his political allegiances and the timing that was my feeling when I first heard it.

 

[mumblethrax]

Elon Musk has absolutely no clue what he is stepping into.

Yeah, that's a stunningly bad and incoherent definition of free speech.

I suspect, if he genuinely intends to go through with this purchase, he's about to learn a $10 lesson for the low, low cost of $45 billion.

 

[trustbutverify]

I have no idea what's going to happen with Musk in charge... but I do expect to be entertained by it.

All Putinganda, all the time?

 

[Thermal]

I have no idea what's going to happen with Musk in charge... but I do expect to be entertained by it.

I got $20 that says it tanks when he first takes over, because he Freeze Peaches it into oblivion, and a competitor rises to be the respectable social media platform. Then he wises up and rebrands as the World's Most Neutral Platform. Remains tanked because no one trusts him.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

So, if he buys it you just made an easy $12. Not bad.

I guess the price reflects the chance that he may not buy it.

Silly me.

My thought was that the stock might really go up with Musk in charge.

Kinda missed the implications of the whole “going private” part.

 

[angrysoba]

Elon Musk has absolutely no clue what he is stepping into.



If Musk actually attempts to implement an If-it's-legal-then-it's-allowed policy, then it will not last more than a week. Spam, targeted harassment, doxxing, and even some forms of threat and defamation will be on the table.

Yeah, exactly. It sounds as though he is ready to give up on Terms of Services.

This is literally the argument I once heard Tim Pool make on Joe Rogan's podcast before I understood who Tim Pool was. It sounded ridiculous even then. Don't get me wrong, you can have a platform that basically allows anything except illegal speech, but it will become a cesspool quickly and won't be the kind of place that people will want to hang around. I mean, these kinds of platforms do exist, don't they? Gab and Parler, etc... but there is a reason why these are fringe sites.

If Twitter goes that way, someone else will start up a new platform that will eventually become popular. The reason why previous attempts have not worked is because people basically like Twitter, and it is well understood that the alternatives are fringe loonies.

 

[Puppycow]

My favorite quote about this whole thing:

"Musk’s appointment to Twitter’s board shows that we need regulation of social-media platforms to prevent rich people from controlling our channels of communication."​

Why is this my favorite quote? Because of where it appeared: in the Washington Post.

The opinions of Op-Ed contributors are their own, and not necessarily the opinion of the newspaper in which they appear. Sometimes they are even opposite. If it were an editorial, that would be different.

 

[theprestige]

The opinions of Op-Ed contributors are their own, and not necessarily the opinion of the newspaper in which they appear. Sometimes they are even opposite. If it were an editorial, that would be different.

You make it sound like the editors of the Washington Post have no control over which authors and which ideas get to make an appearance on their Op-Ed pages.

 

[rdwight]

I think people will be shocked to find out that changes will not be as extreme as they imagine or would like. Myself, I wonder how aggressive he will be with bots. If those people complaining about follower loss are mad today, wait until an actual ban wave goes out. They will screenshot 3 people that said their legit accounts were banned to act as if they match the tens of thousands of bot follows they lose.

There is also the treasure trove of user data that I am sure he can think of ways to use. I wonder how he will incorporate that into his other ventures.

 

[Ziggurat]

The opinions of Op-Ed contributors are their own, and not necessarily the opinion of the newspaper in which they appear. Sometimes they are even opposite. If it were an editorial, that would be different.

It doesn’t really matter if the author agrees with the paper. That complaint applies to the WP. Yet it’s not directed at the WP. Why? Because it is, in fact, hypocritical.

 

[Ziggurat]

I think people will be shocked to find out that changes will not be as extreme as they imagine or would like.

That is likely true.

 

[Ziggurat]

If Musk actually attempts to implement an If-it's-legal-then-it's-allowed policy, then it will not last more than a week. Spam, targeted harassment, doxxing, and even some forms of threat and defamation will be on the table.

This is a peculiar complaint, given that threats and defamation are already not legal and so would be prohibited under such a scenario.

 

[I Am The Scum]

This is a peculiar complaint, given that threats and defamation are already not legal and so would be prohibited under such a scenario.

Like I said, some forms. For exampe: "I really hope someone shoots John Smith at his next book signing. He doesn't have security so it would be easy to get a gun close him." That's not illegal.

 

[I Am The Scum]

Probably a coincidence

One day after Twitter announced it had accepted Musk's $44 billion takeover bid, Tesla shares sank 12.2%, wiping out more than $125 billion off the electric vehicle maker's market value.

 

[rdwight]

Like I said, some forms. For exampe: "I really hope someone shoots John Smith at his next book signing. He doesn't have security so it would be easy to get a gun close him." That's not illegal.

You would first have to show that twitter currently enforces what you are talking about. Funnily enough I saw someone complaining about this exact thing being allowed.

 

[Ziggurat]

You would first have to show that twitter currently enforces what you are talking about. Funnily enough I saw someone complaining about this exact thing being allowed.

Oh, I’m sure it’s enforced… sometimes. Just not with anything approaching consistency.

But what matters far more than this (which in practice may change very little) is stuff like blocking the Hunter Biden laptop story. That was completely unjustified, it was never a violation of Twitter’s TOS, and it was completely the result of political bias within Twitter. That was the actual realization of what so many are freaking out about the possibility Musk might do in the future.