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Elon has decided not to join our board

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Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#491

Post by KarlKemp »

perihelions wrote: post #27
axg11 wrote: post #9

A very odd set of events and no explanation regarding Elon's change of mind. A pessimist would think that Elon has decided to go for a "hostile" takeover since he is no longer bound by the percentage holding cap. An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. It amuses me more than it should that the CEO of Twitter has poste…

- "CEO of Twitter has posted an image of text (from the iOS Notes app?)" At least he made the effort to include accessible alt-text. (Interestingly, the accessible text differs *slightly* from the picture-of-text version -- different draft revisions? Even social media CEO's don't seem comfortable with this workflow). edit: here's a diff with highlighting: https://i.imgur.com/R9wf2H5.png I'm relying on Verge's transcr…

It’s 1000 characters exactly.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#492

Post by Vespasian »

smt88 wrote: post #481
Vespasian wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you need to deal with the outcome. If Twitter started doing no (or very little) moderation it would suddenly be in conflict with many laws around the globe including the EU and the US. That did fly a few years ago but I doubt it does today. Other shareholders might not be to thrilled about them being banned

The US does not have laws requiring moderation except for illegal content (like child porn) and DMCA takedowns. Most platforms fail miserably at removing the former and just automate the latter. Twitter could spend a small fraction of their current moderation budget and still be in compliance with US law.

That's right, but other countries do and I've seen plenty of local companies spending advertising dollars on Twitter and targeting local users.

Of course Twitter is free to leave those markets at any time but I don't think other shareholders besides Musk would appreciate that.

Even in America, some brands were not that interested appearing next to fringe/extreme (though legal) content. And advertisers are the real customers of Twitter and all social media after all.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#493

Post by Vespasian »

antattack wrote: post #460
Vespasian wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you need to deal with the outcome. If Twitter started doing no (or very little) moderation it would suddenly be in conflict with many laws around the globe including the EU and the US. That did fly a few years ago but I doubt it does today. Other shareholders might not be to thrilled about them being banned

If you read what Musk says now or years ago he actually is very much for moderation, but not censorship or banning people of the platform. In a way Musk is for something similar to HN point system.

I get that, but the line between moderation and censorship is very culture and topic dependent.

That's obviously true for authoritarian countries like China but even in "the West" there are competing definitions of what constitutes free speech.

If you want to operate in those countries (at scale) you need to localize your moderation policies and therefore "take a stance". Cost of doing business globally.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#494

Post by smcl »

core-utility wrote: post #416
throwaway4good wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Trump stuff is hard to understand; seems like he had such a massive oppurtunity.

He had a market, but simultaneously didn't if that makes any sense. The world didn't need another Twitter clone, it already had Parler and Gettr. Social networks are difficult to get users onto because people want to go where their "friends" are, so you're not just convincing one user individually. Getting wide enough adoption to where users actually use the platform regularly is difficult.

> people want to go where their "friends" are

There's another flip-side to this which is particularly important towards the more extreme end of the right wing - some people want to go where their enemies are. That Twitter allows you to jump right into the middle of a discussion and directly engage with or antagonise those who you dislike is a big draw. For those into reactionary politics, being siloed away in a little safe zone with people who agree with them isn't particularly gratifying.

edit: I agree with your comment btw, I just wanted to add a little something to it :D

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#495

Post by Blackstrat »

Bottom line, joining the board limited Musk's acquisition of Twitter stock to <= 14.5%. What the press release says is ultimately irrelevant. I suspect Musk didn't like the restrictions. Whether he wants the company or not, Twitter's future doesn't look that bright. it was never representative of the country at large.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#497

Post by smcl »

overthemoon wrote: post #442
core-utility wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He had a market, but simultaneously didn't if that makes any sense. The world didn't need another Twitter clone, it already had Parler and Gettr. Social networks are difficult to get users onto because people want to go where their "friends" are, so you're not just convincing one user individually. Getting wide enough adoption to where users actually use the platform regularly is difficult.

I think this is right. In addition, IMO ultimately it feels hollow if you can't piss anyone off. Twitter makes it possible to search for the living avatar of whatever you hate the most so you can tweet invective at them until your head explodes. It feels good, even for a moment, to tell your enemies what's what. If you're on a platform with only MAGA people, what's the point? I signed up out of curiosity after it lau…

Ha I should've refreshed this tab before adding a comment, you posted my thoughts a few hours before me and phrased it better :)

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#498

Post by bin_bash »

dalbasal wrote: post #373
paxys wrote: post #155

Reading between the lines and the PR speak a little bit: 1. Parag is covering his own ass and making clear that the initial announcement was always contingent on a few things and not a done deal. 2. He is heavily implying that being a fiduciary of the company and having to act in its best interests (including, I imagine, not randomly criticizing it in public or promising non-existent features) was the deal breaker fo…

We see coloured smoke come out of the chimney. What the cardinals said is all speculation... even if they later leak something. To my ear, the most simple reading is (1) the board seat came with conditions (2) Elon didn't accept them. Twitter management undoubtedly has unresolved tensions, tense status quos, factions... As always with online forums, anyone hitched to the "free speech absolutist" wagon loses eventuall…

> We see coloured smoke come out of the chimney. What the cardinals said is all speculation

Can you ELI5 this metaphor for me? I know it's something about when the pope dies but my knowledge of Catholicism is very limited.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#499

Post by bin_bash »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #422
dalbasal wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We see coloured smoke come out of the chimney. What the cardinals said is all speculation... even if they later leak something. To my ear, the most simple reading is (1) the board seat came with conditions (2) Elon didn't accept them. Twitter management undoubtedly has unresolved tensions, tense status quos, factions... As always with online forums, anyone hitched to the "free speech absolutist" wagon loses eventuall…

He got fined a few tens of millions of dollars a while back for tweeting a market-manipulating weed joke. Literally, this is not an exaggeration at all. Then iirc the SEC put a restriction where his tweets about his companies had to be like, nominally vetted by an officer of the company or something, I don't remember the details. Anyway he basically just refused, but also afaik hasn't tweeted concrete financial lies…

To me there is a big difference between joking about the price being $420 and the "funding secured" tweet.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#500

Post by HWR_14 »

tenpies wrote: post #457
HWR_14 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm wondering if it's the twitter polls that killed it. I bet twitter polls about how to run twitter from a board member, with no intention to follow through from other board members, would count as misleading investors to the SEC.

Don't think so. Elon is quite public about hating the SEC and the SEC has been utterly spineless - paving the way for all sorts of frauds that we'll learn about in a couple of years/decades. Twitter GC also probably hated the idea of Elon as a Director, but it's not their place to stop it. Most they can do is take a page from Tesla GC and quit.

Elon being willing to pick a fight with the SEC doesn't mean the current board, C-suite, etc of Twitter are. They might have rescinded the offer because they don't want to be caught up with everything if the SEC investigates.
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