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Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

theguardian.com

111–120 of 373 posts

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#111
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is it "childish antics" for the Guardian to have their own political viewpoint? When a journal is biased... it is biased. Objectivism is one thing. Bias is another. Bias at the US elections shit is just another level.

> When a journal is biased... it is biased. I would like to know which newspaper or journal is not biased.

They all are. But they can do something like Firing Line, where people of opposing viewpoints are invited to debate. The editorial board can also hire a cross section of political views.

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#112
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it "childish antics" for the Guardian to have their own political viewpoint? Musk can have a preferred candidate and political stance. And he can run Twitter accordingly. The Guardian can have a preferred candidate and political stance. And they can choose the platforms they use accordingly. It all seems perfectly reasonable to me.

It only seems reasonable until this thinking eventually gets you to the point where the next platform you choose to leave is called Earth. It's pretty dumb because there is nothing like X at the moment. Just for context, the Guardian had almost 11 million followers on X and Bluesky has only just crossed 15 million total users, of which many signed up months ago when it was opened to the public and never logged back i…

> eventually gets you to the point where the next platform you choose to leave is called Earth

On the other hand, that's the express goal of the owner of X.

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#113
post #71

I don't have a problem with Musk supporting one candidate or the other. But I do have a problem with Musk apparently tweaking the algorithm to specifically promote one candidate and to bombard me with political content that skews a certain way even when I selected other interests or never used the platform to engage in political discourse. This while bellowing about X being a platform for free and open speech. I real…

I do not know if Musk tweaked the algorithm in favor of Trump as I've left Twitter several years ago due to getting tired of propaganda bots. But what I do know is that Google and Facebook (as well as previous Twitter owners) practicing targeted propaganda for years already, pushing political agenda in your throat no matter how you ask them to not recommend you specific authors, channels or topics. I don't think we actually have any social platform for free and open speech.

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Mastodon and the entire Fediverse is infested with the most rabid sort of users that even Twitter couldn't stomach and has turned a blind eye to this fact? I mean, there's a reason why they keep getting brought up over and over and people continually nope out of signing up over there. They've got a demographic problem, they refuse to acknowledge it, and it's killing growth. Why would any media outlet want to…

Half of Mastodon seems to be an obsession with what's in your trousers or what you prefer to sleep with.

Mastodon does not have an automated feed like Twitter does, so what you see in your feed is people you follow and their boosts. Just don't follow people who are interested in your sex life.

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#115
post #30

Yann Lecun is also telling everyone on Twitter very loudly that he won't be posting on Twitter. The Guardian in another article explains that they are annoyed because Musk used twitter to promote his preferred candidate. The Guardian itself used their own platform to publicly endorse Harris. This deja-vu of childish antics is just comical in 2024

X doesn't control algorithms that promote content and suppress dissenting views on a major social network.

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#117
post #17

It's wild how much most people rely on being in an echo chamber. It takes a psychological toll being confronted with opinions that challenge your worldview on a regular basis, especially if you cannot easily dismiss them. I haven't seen any of the things the Guardian mentions on my feed -- it's mostly startup related, software related, finance news, and science/medical stuff with maybe ~10% of posts I come across hav…

I’m sick to death of everything being described as “opinions that challenge one’s worldview”. There are opinions and there are opinions. There are also philosophical differences of opinion vs things that blatantly factually untrue. Remember “alternative facts”? from the last US election? That was a thing that someone legitimately said in response to specific tangible factually incorrect statements being made about the nature of election fraud. Not wanting to be exposed to content from a news organisation that so aggressively promotes this “worldview” is not the same thing as being a thin-skinned snowflake that only wants to consume content that doesn’t challenge them.

The notion that I’m meant to ingest some unfiltered firehose of utter garbage because of some incorrect notion of “all opinions are equally valid” is complete and utter bullshit.

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#118
post #71

I don't have a problem with Musk supporting one candidate or the other. But I do have a problem with Musk apparently tweaking the algorithm to specifically promote one candidate and to bombard me with political content that skews a certain way even when I selected other interests or never used the platform to engage in political discourse. This while bellowing about X being a platform for free and open speech. I real…

> I do have a problem with Musk apparently tweaking the algorithm to specifically promote one candidate and to bombard me with political content that skews a certain way even when I selected other interests

He has been doing that since almost a year. The "For you" page would be filled with content you don't like, and clicking "not interested" doesn't help. The only solution I found was to mute the accounts that were showing up there that I didn't like. This was a major factor that led me to leave X / Twitter

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#119
post #30

Yann Lecun is also telling everyone on Twitter very loudly that he won't be posting on Twitter. The Guardian in another article explains that they are annoyed because Musk used twitter to promote his preferred candidate. The Guardian itself used their own platform to publicly endorse Harris. This deja-vu of childish antics is just comical in 2024

> The Guardian itself used their own platform to publicly endorse Harris. Isn’t The Guardian a UK publication?

Yes, they are a UK publication. But they cover a lot of US news and have a significant American readership. So, like American newspapers, they have an informed opinion and an audience that wishes to hear that opinion.

That's how newspaper endorsements work. In this case the writer of the endorsement cannot themselves vote, but their opinion can still have weight.

The Economist, another UK-based periodical with a more right-wing stance, explains why it endorses candidates:

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2024/10/31/...

Re: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

#120
post #98
post #6

In related news Bluesky added 700,000 new users in the week after the election. Count me in the group who deleted Twitter as soon as the election was over - (I had planned to do so however the election went) https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/11/24293920/bluesky-700000-...

I deleted Twitter as soon as musk took over because he’s a feudalist

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