By the time Elon Musk closed on Twitter’s $44 billion purchase in October 2022, that had helped considerably. By the mafia From the big banks and reactionary hedge fund owners (b Also by Didi(Although Musk would rather you forget that), he has already explained what his new political project will be.
Just four months ago, he tweetedHe added: “Given the unprovoked attacks by leading Democrats against me and the very cold treatment of Tesla and SpaceX, I intend to vote Republican in November.” He promised to bring Donald Trump’s account back on the platform and restore the tweeting privileges he lost after inciting a full-blown insurrection at the Capitol. It had been instigated throughout the year by a coterie of far-right influencers and straight men who openly dreamed of fostering a friendly outlet for previously outlawed manosphere types, rabid conspiracy-mongers, and neo-Nazis, under the guise of “liberals.” Absolute speech.”
Now that Trump is back in the White House, accompanied by Elon Musk, there is no longer even a pretense of hope on this platform for anyone who voted against Trump. Better late than never, but it’s really time to get rid of X.
It may have seemed, at one time, that passionate internal resistance could effectively limit the damage to Musk and preserve some of the former spirit of the microblogging platform on which writers, public agencies, and other creatives have come to rely. I honestly can’t tell you exactly what my justification for maintaining a presence on Twitter/X was, even as I explored other social media outlets and publicly admitted that Musk’s system was turning away large numbers of tweeters, reinforcing Misinformation that can be easily debunkedshed everyone From X Residual benefit to reportersThe prevalence of bullying against transgender users Direct white supremacist rhetoricAnd influencing CEOs in every other field to become as imperious and unapologetic as Musk, whatever the backlash.
Apparently my job title was that I was a “business and technology” reporter and social media follower. There was also the advantage of There were all the people I connected with exclusively on the platform, who I wanted to stay in touch with. I thought friends, colleagues, and writers I respected made compelling cases for improving the experience — completely ignoring Musk, deleting your old tweets — even as others insisted, ConvincinglyThis was not just a foolish mission, it was dangerous.
It didn’t take long until there was nothing left. My beloved rap Twitter is dead, taken over by fake blue checks and Trump propaganda. Keep the musk He pushes himself and his dysfunctional friends In everyone’s feeds, regardless of users’ preferences. Trump was finally persuaded to tweet again, despite his allegiance to social truth, and brought back demagoguery once again, difficult. Musk put his money where his mouth was, as my colleague Scott Nover said, and ultimately became a successful major donor to Trump’s cause. Kamala Harris’ campaign may have far outpaced Trump’s campaign, but Republicans had such a powerful propaganda machine on their hands that supposedly democracy-conscious liberals (myself included) continued to bless the legitimacy, simply by staying and posting out there.
It’s no secret that under the new Trump administration, Musk is likely to benefit greatly from… Federal contracts for SpaceX and Tesla This effectively immunized him from a great deal of government accountability. It is possible that Trump and Musk, two obsessive people with terrible business instincts but a great group of powerful friends, will clash with each other frequently, while working on ways to clean up the civil service. But it’s also possible that Trump will do anything and everything he can for his new friend, and that may include bailing out Company X from its massive debt, as well as turning it into a more direct government propaganda channel than it was during the war. The peak era of President Donald Trump’s inflammatory tweets. Trump has already brought major newspapers and broadcast companies to his knees, and now he doesn’t even have to try hard to control the text-based outlet filled with online fans who have turned out in astonishing numbers this year for him, and him alone. (No, don’t expect him to hire Social Truth, which remains unviable in any major field, as my colleague Alex Kirshner has pointed out.)
There is no need to be a part of that. Two years after Musk acquired the company, we have a completely different information ecosystem that completely bypasses the need for Twitter as it was and also presents new opportunities for liberals. Consider the Bluesky program and its associated “federal” alternatives. These are thriving, decentralized and carefully brokered platforms where you can Prevent poop easily like Catturdwhere users have more opportunities for customization and access than ever before, thanks to Grow your customer base organically. (I suggest you don’t go to Threads, which is run by Trump supporter Mark Zuckerberg and continues to do so.) Censorship of journalists and any form of “political content” without any coordinated content moderation.)
Of course, such newer platforms are still niche, but remember that even the far-right ideologies that drove Trump to where he is now were once relegated to niche corners of the internet. There’s an arithmetic that Democrats in the mainstream media have stuck to It is no longer enoughand that it is time for liberals to have a solid apparatus to overcome the right-wing dominance of their previously favorite media. And frankly, there’s no need for any of Trump’s opponents now to be on pre.
Remember also that what has always made Twitter/X more powerful and desirable to these right-wingers is the fact that there are libs on the platform that they can indulge in and who can introduce themselves to the opposition. Why continue to give them this satisfaction?
Once I share this article, I plan to lock down my old Twitter account (with some information in case any friends want to follow me elsewhere) and never tweet from it again. The site I once loved is gone forever, and it’s taken me a long time to come to terms with that, and now it’s time for something different — because we’re going to need something different to fend off the renewed threats posed by a re-elected, re-elected Trump. Many people already understand this and are Leaving in large numbersonce again.
I’ll probably keep a burner account there for research purposes (like on Truth Social, because whenever I’m tasked with informing the libs what the hell is going on there), but there’s no need to put any of us through exhausting liberal posturing, gloating far-right reactions, and algorithm changes The inevitable one that will forever stifle dissenting users, under a spiraling pile of Trump ranting and AI bullshit. We had a good run. Now it’s time to run somewhere last.
Subscribe to Slate’s evening newsletter.
