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X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

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Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#61

Post by rainworld »

Two obsidian-black patterns the “X” app has been employing for months:

Force the “For You” tab after Every Single App Switch.

Randomly use a `WKWebView` instead of a `SFSafariViewController` as the in-app browser. Denying you various features like Reader, AutoFill, Fraudulent Website Warning, and content blocking.

Why? To fuck with you. Musk-Twitter has never been a good-faith operation. Where’s tech journalism when you need it? Thought they (still) spend half their days in that app.

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#62

Post by dangus »

taway1237 wrote: post #5
dangus wrote: post #2

Is this even legal according to FTC guidelines? I thought ads had to be clearly marked in digital content. Either way, whatever. X is dying. I think the mainstream assumes “it’ll never happen, it’s too big to fail.” But it’s not. X really is shrinking and dying. It won’t die this year or next but it’s following in the steps of MySpace, perhaps more slowly. But it’s happening.

Maybe, but there's still no alternative. Most people don't care, journalists and politicians still need Twitter to share their thoughts/amplify their voice, and researchers/content creators still link to their work on Twitter. Wake me up when it changes.

No alternative? Reddit, TikTok, (Instagram) Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Reels, Facebook…

I think that we just assume that complete platform death (Friendster, MySpace) can’t happen anymore, but I think it definitely can.

Network effects make AND break platforms.

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#63

Post by welon »

artursapek wrote: post #51
ceejayoz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He claimed to dislike virtually all censorship. A "free speech absolutist" ( https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 ). That was rapidly shown not to be the case when @ElonJet got snuffed out.

I feel like doxing peoples’ location is not acceptable free speech online, just in general

Such info is published by law; public has a right to track potential debris that may rain down on it given malfeasance or technical failures

Elon is free to not own private jets

What’s with coddling a minority that does not care we exist?

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#64

Post by lhnz »

threeseed wrote: post #14

Pretty sure the company is going to be sold to a private equity firm once it reaches $1b in valuation. There's just no way Musk is going to want to stick around the way things are trending. Premium tiers are not going to come close to replacing the lost revenue to declining ad spend. Especially when it's in a death spiral with increasingly spammier ads causing a flight of higher quality advertisers. And there isn't t…

Despite continuously making very unpopular moves, I can't see how Twitter loses its users. In fact, I think it will exist long after usage on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok falters -- because, it is less replaceable and less age-demographic dependent.

I also think that advertisers will return when budgets increase again. There aren't that many other good options.

In the long term, I think it goes nowhere and returns to profitability and a higher valuation.

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#65

Post by hef19898 »

artursapek wrote: post #51
ceejayoz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He claimed to dislike virtually all censorship. A "free speech absolutist" ( https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 ). That was rapidly shown not to be the case when @ElonJet got snuffed out.

I feel like doxing peoples’ location is not acceptable free speech online, just in general

There are still people who think elonsjet was doxxing? Interesting...

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#66

Post by karaterobot »

throwawayq3423 wrote: post #22
b112 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure the company is going to be sold to a private equity firm once it reaches $1b in valuation. There's just no way Musk is going to want to stick around the way things are trending If he did that, it could recover its former might perhaps, and the censorship he disliked may return. Thus he likely wants it dead, rather than in other hands.

> and the censorship he disliked may return. Banning Nazis is not censorship, it's basic hygiene.

It is censorship. Whether you'd consider it acceptable or not is a different matter, but don't try to duck the important decision you'd have to make about it. Many groups throughout history have thought that silencing people they didn't like was a matter of hygiene—including the Nazis, as a matter of fact. It's an enticing concept, using different standards when it comes to people you hate.

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#67

Post by anytime5704 »

dangus wrote: post #2

Is this even legal according to FTC guidelines? I thought ads had to be clearly marked in digital content. Either way, whatever. X is dying. I think the mainstream assumes “it’ll never happen, it’s too big to fail.” But it’s not. X really is shrinking and dying. It won’t die this year or next but it’s following in the steps of MySpace, perhaps more slowly. But it’s happening.

Pretty sure it’s illegal according to both FTC and EU guidelines (the not disclosing what is/isn’t an ad).

Can’t imagine this lasts.

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#68

Post by drdaeman »

ceejayoz wrote: post #25
carabiner wrote: post #16

Why is this bad? These superads will enable users to discover more products to improve their lives. Many will be YC companies. Advertising is the root of all good.

Will you seek out a TV with always-on screen and speakers in your bedroom for this purpose, as it is so useful?

TV doesn't have a camera that can track your eye movements to ensure you're properly watching those ads and not stealing from the advertisers.

/s, of course

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#69

Post by coldpie »

lhnz wrote: post #64
threeseed wrote: post #14

Pretty sure the company is going to be sold to a private equity firm once it reaches $1b in valuation. There's just no way Musk is going to want to stick around the way things are trending. Premium tiers are not going to come close to replacing the lost revenue to declining ad spend. Especially when it's in a death spiral with increasingly spammier ads causing a flight of higher quality advertisers. And there isn't t…

Despite continuously making very unpopular moves, I can't see how Twitter loses its users. In fact, I think it will exist long after usage on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok falters -- because, it is less replaceable and less age-demographic dependent. I also think that advertisers will return when budgets increase again. There aren't that many other good options. In the long term, I think it goes nowhere an…

Eh, I deleted my account last October because of his policy changes, and I'm definitely not the only one. It's honestly been great to remove it from my life, I owe Musk for nudging me to get off the platform and have one less social media thing to make me feel crappy.

Re: X rolls out new ad format that can't be reported, blocked

#70

Post by AlexandrB »

Natsu wrote: post #34
api wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The censorship never went away. It just switched from being at one owner's whim to being at a different owner's whim. Closed platforms are not and can never be "free speech zones." They answer to their owners, period.

What sort of topics are currently being censored? I haven't seen examples of things being suppressed, but that's also why I'm asking; because I wouldn't have seen things that got suppressed.

> The reason given for its account suspension, an Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club contributor told The New Republic, was that it had violated Twitter rules against “hateful conduct,” with two tweets cited: a reply to the official account of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“Mugging at gun point,” reads the reply to an unspecified CBP post) and another post with what seems like a retort to the perpetual conservative nonjoke about pronouns, “Every queer a riflethem.”

[1] https://newrepublic.com/article/169112/elon-musk-anti-trans-...

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