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Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

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Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#371

Post by mmaunder »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #105

From observing various internet forums, including this one, I noticed that people from the "first world" countries don't know the value of free speech and often take it for granted. Sometimes even coming to such views as "free speech is dangerous" and that "we should limit free speech" (by blocking the views I don't like). Understand this: limits on free speech are far more dangerous to society than allowing fringe e…

That’s exactly right. I’ve posted here many times discussing what it was like to grow up under apartheid in South Africa. Elon grew up under that regime too. He’s the same age as me. He went to Pretoria boys high school. I went to Paarl boys high school. Similar tracks. Both highly conservative, pro apartheid and a clear demonstration of how limiting free speech enables awful regimes like the apartheid government. This is one of the strongest reasons he is a free speech absolutist.

It’s incredible how many smart people in the freest country in the world are asking to have their freedoms removed without considering who may inherit those rights.

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#372

Post by kareemsabri »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #105

From observing various internet forums, including this one, I noticed that people from the "first world" countries don't know the value of free speech and often take it for granted. Sometimes even coming to such views as "free speech is dangerous" and that "we should limit free speech" (by blocking the views I don't like). Understand this: limits on free speech are far more dangerous to society than allowing fringe e…

You're gonna get replies basically saying "but free speech is about protection from the government not corporations". This is the stock answer, even though corporations in America are generally considered to be equally if not more powerful than the government (for good reason).

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#373

Post by bombcar »

justforfunhere wrote: post #72

Any twitter employees here? Whats your take on this? Do you feel happy or anxious or do not care?

Given the reports of how freaked out employees were on the possibility of Musk on the board, they must be fleeing in droves now that he'd own the company.

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#374

Post by geodel »

542458 wrote: post #126

As somebody from the first world who has had the experience of moderating Internet forums… free speech in the sense of “the government generally shouldn’t control people’s speech, with limited exceptions” is good and necessary. Free speech in the sense of “everybody should be forced to platform every idea” is silly IMO. Left alone user content rapidly devolves into the most low-effort salient content - flame wars, po…

It may be good idea hundred years back where (only?) government was being all powerful in a person's life . So if government denied people speech they are roughly blocked from everywhere.

Now with huge dependency on cloud/ social platform to conduct daily life they are pretty much government. SO getting blocked from them has much larger impact then it would be 50-100 years back.

Spending time or getting blocked on HN is not as materially impacting as it would be on big cloud services. So it does not compare well.

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#375

Post by rayiner »

542458 wrote: post #126

As somebody from the first world who has had the experience of moderating Internet forums… free speech in the sense of “the government generally shouldn’t control people’s speech, with limited exceptions” is good and necessary. Free speech in the sense of “everybody should be forced to platform every idea” is silly IMO. Left alone user content rapidly devolves into the most low-effort salient content - flame wars, po…

Nobody is upset that Twitter is moderating porn. (And in fact it allows porn!) People are upset that Twitter censored what turned out to be a true story about the son of the now President, or that you can be blocked or banned for running afoul of rules of decorum embraced by a small minority of the population. If Twitter banned porn and not those other things, people wouldn't be complaining!

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#376

Post by moralestapia »

tbirdny wrote: post #362

For $1B he could make an exact twitter clone, and he could probably do it for much less than that. You might say, yes, but he's paying for the brand, and no one would use his clone. He could pay for a flood of advertising and other promotions to get people to switch. He could pay 42,000,000 people $1000 each to switch to his twitter clone.

>He could pay 42,000,000 people $1000 each to switch to his twitter clone

So that he could have a shitty twitter clone with a fraction of its users? For the same cost of real twitter? Whoa what a great deal ...

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#377

Post by unfocussed_mike »

"Elon Musk's raging narcissism launches all-out $43B assault on his credibility and fortune"

Without any understanding that the his right-wing narcissistic suppliers who rage in public about being prevented from raging in public are not the sort of people who become good paying customers for a free platform.

This is like the universe seeing Elon Musk and issuing a course correction.

For the avoidance of doubt: this is dreadful for Twitter's longevity. Twitter's only sustainable future while staying true to its roots, is as a market utility co-owned by media companies.

A billionaire pouring money into a money-pit is fine only for as long as it holds his interest as a plaything (which might be a long time, considering his narcissism)

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#378

Post by memish »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #105

From observing various internet forums, including this one, I noticed that people from the "first world" countries don't know the value of free speech and often take it for granted. Sometimes even coming to such views as "free speech is dangerous" and that "we should limit free speech" (by blocking the views I don't like). Understand this: limits on free speech are far more dangerous to society than allowing fringe e…

To put an even finer point on it, you'll never ever see Xi or Putin say "I'm a free speech absolutist" or "let's have less censorship".

That so many people are taking the position of authoritarians, but presenting it as though they are protecting democracy, is truly baffling to behold. Elon removing these authoritarians from twitter's leadership and employee base, and restoring free speech principles, will be the best thing we've seen for democracy in a long time.

Re: Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private

#379

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

danShumway wrote: post #240

I'm not sure Musk knows what he's doing, this feels like a personal vendetta. I'm also not sure he has any likelihood of succeeding in the first place, I wouldn't necessarily assume anyone is going to take him up at that price. And (quite frankly) I don't think that Musk is a very good free speech activist. I think he's regularly hypocritical about free speech and regularly engages in his own forms of censorship; I d…

I agree with your statements.

Every Billionaire who recently acquired a large media house[1] mentioned in the interviews as doing it for 'Upholding Journalism' or something of those lines which also implicitly meant 'Supporting right to free speech'.

But I'm bewildered about how this particular acquisition is only about 'Right to Free speech' vs 'No Right to Free Speech' and not really about hostile takeover of a business by a Ultra-Billionaire with impunity?

I guess that has something to do with how good Elon is at controlling the narrative, Even reputable news agencies start with 'Elon who claims himself as a free speech absolutist...'. And that was before he controlled Twitter.

Anyways, Two major social media firms seems to have consolidated with individuals who are supposed to run a social media firm.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45550747

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