XCancel service is suspended until further notice

Post by mitxela » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 7:16 AM UTC

pibaker wrote: post #45

embedding-shape wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, or local governments, or governments in general, seems strange to me too. But then probably they'd use Facebook/Instagram/Whatever instead of Twitter if Twitter wasn't available, and seemingly it's impossible for them to use something that isn't built like a panopticon that also wants to slurp up as much data from their users as possible.

There should be a law mandating government agencies to not limit their electronic communications to private third party platforms. If they post something on Twitter, or worse, Facebook, they must also provide a copy of the post on their own website. Some kind of online government gazette, if you will. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_gazette

Post by mitxela » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 7:19 AM UTC

nativeit wrote: post #220

mitxela wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't. We know this because there was a time before xcancel and people just accepted they needed an account. It can happen - nobody would post an Instagram link to HN. But for X it did not happen. Notice the EU's Digital Markets Act is a liability shield for Nitter instances hosted in the EU.

That assumes the people who need XCancel most are aware of its existence, but from what I can tell only folks like us are.

Post by layla5alive » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 7:21 AM UTC

wolrah wrote: post #464

WarmWash wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem companies have is that "doesn't suck" generally means "it's free with no ads". The internet has this innate expectation that everything digital be totally free and have no form of tracking or ads, or if it does have ads/tracking, that you are trivially capable of blocking them while still totally enjoying the service/product. xcancel, archive, whatever are all tools almost solely meant to access monetized…

> The problem companies have is that "doesn't suck" generally means "it's free with no ads". I feel like way too many people forget that there was a great middle ground for the longest time, in the form of Google AdWords. Text only, no animations, flash, iframes serving malware, or any of the other bullshit that had already taken over banner ad networks like Doubleclick at the time. I recall at the time one of the ea…

Post by mitxela » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 7:22 AM UTC

mahboi wrote: post #802

vrganj wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a pretty in-depth investigation into the workings of X as far-right propaganda machine: https://news.sky.com/story/the-x-effect-how-elon-musk-is-boo... > right-wing content was shown most prominently, regardless of users' political leaning. > Left-wing users saw almost the same amount of left-wing and right-wing content, even though they only followed left-wing accounts. But only 14% of the political content s…

Before X flagged me as a bot for no reason, I had a mostly unused account and can confirm it was showing me a ton of right-wing content. Also lots of stuff related to Elon Musk in particular. On the flip side, X has less moderation, and it's pretty even-handed. They're allowing a lot of pretty mild right-wing content that Twitter was banning people for.

Post by mafuy » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 7:27 AM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #805

vladgur wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one not engage with the corporate product at all? Im typing a comment on a website of a corporation whose goal is to grow companies into corporations, via a computer manufactured by a corporation on a keyboard produced by a corporation, staring at a screen produced by a corporation, while connecting to an internet service offered by a corporation. Never mind that im also employed by a corporation, dressed by…

It's basically impossible to not engage with any corporate products at all. It's trivially-easy to not engage with specific corporate products. I don't engage with Twitter, because I won't sign up and that makes it useless to me. I'm not missing out on anything I care about.