Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

ElonJet Is Now Suspended

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

861–870 of 1001 posts

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#861

Post by mywittyname »

Sebb767 wrote: post #214
mywittyname wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing bankruptcy has always been the plan, but I never really understood why his financial backers would knowingly light a pile of money on fire. For oppressive governments, it seems easier to monitor & block activity on one major social media platform, rather than quashing twitter and dealing with the dozens of platforms that rise from the ashes. Maybe it's a megalomaniac dictator thing, and I will never unde…

> I'm guessing bankruptcy has always been the plan Why? What advantage would that bring to him? Honest question. With him overpaying for Twitter already (maybe not completely voluntary), bankruptcy looks like the fastest way to make the deal even worse.

> Why?

It doesn't take a financial wizard to realize that Twitter was insolvent from the day it was purchased. Saddling a company with an interest payment that's nearly double revenue is a clear indication to me that the time period from purchase-to-bankruptcy was going to be measured in months. So we can be pretty confident that everyone involved with this purchase was expecting Twitter to die quickly.

You and I are on the same page. But the "why" is not "why would they make such a poor financial choice," since it's clear the answer to that is "to kill Twitter." The why is really, "why bother killing Twitter?" I get Musk's reasoning, but I don't understand what his co-investors get out of the deal. Authoritarian regimes benefit from having dissidents operate on a centralized platform, because it's easier to monitor. Killing twitter pushes these groups out to platforms that are going to be decentralized and impossible to block. It's weakening their grip, not reinforcing it.

My best guess is that they assumed that Musk would stay on post bankruptcy and act as their pro-authoritarian sock puppet. But they didn't anticipate his complete ineptitude would drive users off the platform in such numbers.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#862

Post by grey413 »

erlich wrote: post #832
simple10 wrote: post #632

I'm curious how they're internally spinning the justification. It doesn't seem to be a violation of Twitter's Automation Rules [1] but ostensibly could be a violation of their harassment rule [2]. It's a bit of a stretch. The litmus test will be if/when the internal comms get released as part of the Twitter Files. I won't hold my breath. [1] https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-autom... [2] https://…

It's a pretty clear-cut policy violation: https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-info... > Our primary aim is to protect individuals from potential physical harm as a result of their information being shared, so we consider information such as physical location and phone numbers to be a higher risk than other types of information. > Under this policy, you can’t share the following types of private in…

Flight plans for Musk's jets are public information.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#863

Post by thordenmark »

stefan_ wrote: post #337
minimaxir wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth noting that Twitter dissolved the Trust and Safety Council after that tweet was posted: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter-disbands-trus... It's unclear if Ella Irwin still works at Twitter, but giving everything going on I strongly suspect there's no one to moderate against Elon personally banning an account he does not like.

She just got the role, why would she no longer work there? Presumably she was put there to enable this , after Yoel Roth abruptly left (and was subsequently defamed as a pedo by Elon, what's with the guy and pedophiles).

No post body was provided.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#864

Post by d23 »

gtowey wrote: post #817
three_seagrass wrote: post #726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's even more fascinating is how hot-button an issue Free Speech has become. Just look at some of the inflammatory replies to your comment that just mentions it. There's more going on with the semantics of the phrase being used to irrationally rile people up to outrage, rather than actually being about the definition of free speech.

"Free speech" has become a hot button issue because for the first time in history, oligarchs are in danger of losing the absolute control they have had over media and communication throughout history. What they actually want is to ensure that their propaganda cannot be silenced, while simultaneously still silencing voices they don't like. Calling it free speech is a way to make it seem like their fight is somehow in…

> What they actually want is to ensure that their propaganda cannot be silenced, while simultaneously still silencing voices they don't like.

They've been so used to being above the law and above the rules it drives them crazy that they can actually be held to account somewhere. Most of them still get away with far more than the average person would ever be able to (see "Do Not Take Action on User Without Consulting With SIP-PES"), but even that is not enough.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#865

Post by trap_goes_hot »

overgard wrote: post #729
trap_goes_hot wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's ironic to observe flawed humans being angry at other human(s) who are also flawed.

If you're suggesting I'm angry, I'm not, I'm just pointing out something that I think should be fairly obvious: twitter has a very specific political bent and their actions reflect that.

I was agreeing with your comment. I wasn’t clear enough.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#866

Post by TheHypnotist »

40four wrote: post #612
encoderer wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re “flabbergasted”? This is publicly available information. What exactly is the safety threat with this twitter acct?

Public information or not, that doesn't make it ethical. It would be different if it tracked other celebrities also. It's a personal attack. I don't know why I have to explain why it would be a safety threat, but sure. Someone who wanted to do harm to Elon having easy access to his whereabouts at all time? Put yourself in his shoes. Would that make you feel more or less safe? And these days, someone wanting to harm h…

In a few short key strokes that information is still available.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#867

Post by ncr100 »

kweingar wrote: post #599
40four wrote: post #572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm flabbergasted by the overwhelming response that this account should be allowed "in the name of Free Speech". This isn't a free speech issue. This is a personal safety issue. It is a personal attack towards Musk. As high profile as he is, and the amount of controversy surrounding him, he certainly has a target on his back. I consider that account a form of Doxxing, and I can't think of any good reason it should be…

I honestly would not have cared about the account being banned, except for the fact that Musk won points for nobly saying he would not ban the account.

The real concern is whether Musk will direct Terrorism to Jack Schwartz's doorstep, like he did with the former exec & the CP accusations.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#868

Post by smalley »

memish wrote: post #779
perihelions wrote: post #109

He's also posted internal Twitter screenshots, allegedly showing a VP was personally involved in @ElonJet moderation. (In the context of an earlier moderation action -- visibility filtering ("VF")). - "A screenshot of what he claimed was an internal Slack channel showed Ella Irwin, the person appointed to replace Yoel Roth as Twitter’s new head of trust and safety, asking a “Team” to “please apply heavy VF to @elonje…

You missed the followup where it was reversed 2 days later. "It appears @ElonJet is longer banned or hidden in anyway." https://twitter.com/JxckSweeney/status/1602354433807061070

No, that tweet predates the more recent ban tweet by 2 days. I just checked and ElonJet and a couple of the other accounts definitely show as suspended/banned to me.

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#869

Post by Xylakant »

AlexandrB wrote: post #410
fnordpiglet wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t mean to be a antagonistic but as the owner of twitter why would we expect he not have the right and ability to ban anyone he likes? When it was publicly held there was some accountability to the shareholders as part of the public. Now he can literally carry a sink around wherever he wants

He certainly has the right to ban anyone. Just like Twitter had the right to do so before he took over. The mismatch is between Elon's rhetoric, which defined this kind of arbitrary moderation as contrary to free speech, and his actions which simply continue the trend but now with a different bias.

> He certainly has the right to ban anyone.

That is not true in all jurisdictions and definitely not in Germany. Since twitter offers it’s services to the general public, bans must be non-discriminatory and are open to challenge in court. Twitter can ban anyone who violates their ToS, but not just anyone Elon dislikes.

https://www.e-recht24.de/artikel/marketing-seo/11415-was-koe...

Re: ElonJet Is Now Suspended

#870

Post by mywittyname »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #274
mywittyname wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing bankruptcy has always been the plan, but I never really understood why his financial backers would knowingly light a pile of money on fire. For oppressive governments, it seems easier to monitor & block activity on one major social media platform, rather than quashing twitter and dealing with the dozens of platforms that rise from the ashes. Maybe it's a megalomaniac dictator thing, and I will never unde…

Musk's grand plan is to lose $30B or so of his own money, plus $13B from bankers who trusted that he would pay them back? That does not seem plausible to me.

And yet, Twitter was insolvent the day the deal went through. The company is going to be "restructuring" it's debt by June '23. Whether that's in bankruptcy court or through private deals with bond holders.
Post reply on HN