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Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

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Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#41

Post by krapp »

missedthecue wrote: post #10
krapp wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because when the American government controls Twitter, you can be certain all views will be respected and treated impartially...

Without irony, you probably would have less censorship than should a private company own it. Is that a good thing? Not sure. Seems like spam would overtake it quickly.

Sure, until an American president decides to ban another country's account for disrespecting him, or use it for leverage in negotiations, or have the NSA bulk scan their citizens private messages for 'terrorist' communications, or have the algorithm bias other country's newsfeeds in favor of American propaganda.

Twitter is a global platform and much of the world wouldn't trust the US as far as they could throw an American nuke (not withstanding how much they would also trust their own government.) The only reason Twitter works as well as it does now is that its primary concern, as a company, is profit, and not the national interests of one specific country.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#42

Post by justapassenger »

elicash wrote: post #13

He filed forms that he was going to be a passive investor, and the same day joined the board after discussion that had been in the works for weeks. This is strike two on misleading investors. I haven't seen analysis on whether it was illegal, but I wouldn't want somebody like him on my board even if it succeeded in keeping him from buying up more stock. With him on the outside, maybe he causes more trouble than on th…

Misleading investors is one of Elon’s main jobs. And he’ll continue doing so, as we doesn’t face any consequences for it (expect for becoming ultra rich).

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#43

Post by sbarre »

jdrc wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

So while this one-liner comment seems to be drawing ire, I do think it brings up a difficult point.

As more and more of our civic discourse moves online, there are no "public spaces" online where the rule of law and public interest comes first.

There is no town square, no soapbox in the park, no public access TV, or the ability for masses to organize and march or protest (or whatever the online equivalent is), with only the government's laws as written to contend with.

Everything (that has meaningful reach and impact) is private, and all these meeting and communication spaces have a company with shareholders and therefore goals and motivations that override public interest.

I certainly don't have the answer to this problem but this erosion is a problem that will need to be reckoned with at some point.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#44

Post by jermaustin1 »

Ferrotin wrote: post #38
elicash wrote: post #13

He filed forms that he was going to be a passive investor, and the same day joined the board after discussion that had been in the works for weeks. This is strike two on misleading investors. I haven't seen analysis on whether it was illegal, but I wouldn't want somebody like him on my board even if it succeeded in keeping him from buying up more stock. With him on the outside, maybe he causes more trouble than on th…

Shareholders like him on the board, and they would be even happier if he were running the company, because an Elon-run Twitter would be a lot more profitable.

> an Elon-run Twitter would be a lot more profitable.

I'm not so sure about that. He doesn't have a lot of experience with running ad sales. His big breaks have been PayPal (kind of), Tesla and SpaceX. None of which were social, none of which were "free".

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#45

Post by sebow »

nradov wrote: post #18
sebow wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nationalizing in the traditional sense is not the solution, indeed, but rather hold the platform up to the letter of the constitution. This right now is not exactly possible given that "twitter is a private company", therefore arguably if one puts it in the hands of the government, you have the double-edged sword of potentially being abused by the government, and on the other hand the solution i forementioned on hold…

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested extending common carrier legislation to cover social media platforms. That would essentially prevent them from censoring any content legal in the US. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2021/04/09/justice-t...

Thanks for the link, I remember hearing about Clarence Thomas' take on this subject but I never took the time to study it. My personal opinion (before reading the material above) is that the "core issue" stands on the S230 "loop-hole" (I don't want to use the term 'abuse' given the negative connotation ... so far it[S230] has been a net good since it made the internet grow so much since 2007, but things have started to change with the rise of monopolistic corporations) giving companies both privileges with less responsibility than should necessary. At least in principle a Bill of Rights should exist, especially considering that places like Twitter are considered fairly often under the law (think court cases) 'public spaces'. Therefore in my mind if the public street is a place where i can speak freely, so should one be able to on Twitter/any other such deemed public space.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#46

Post by gkoberger »

elicash wrote: post #13

He filed forms that he was going to be a passive investor, and the same day joined the board after discussion that had been in the works for weeks. This is strike two on misleading investors. I haven't seen analysis on whether it was illegal, but I wouldn't want somebody like him on my board even if it succeeded in keeping him from buying up more stock. With him on the outside, maybe he causes more trouble than on th…

Here’s a thread on it: https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1511323908129054725?s...

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#47

Post by jdrc »

sbarre wrote: post #43
jdrc wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

So while this one-liner comment seems to be drawing ire, I do think it brings up a difficult point. As more and more of our civic discourse moves online, there are no "public spaces" online where the rule of law and public interest comes first. There is no town square, no soapbox in the park, no public access TV, or the ability for masses to organize and march or protest (or whatever the online equivalent is), with o…

Yup, we actually need public twitters. Nothing fancy, no recommendations, not even sophisticated antispam, just simple follow list like rss with feedback. People can learn the self-curate

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#48

Post by elicash »

Ferrotin wrote: post #38
elicash wrote: post #13

He filed forms that he was going to be a passive investor, and the same day joined the board after discussion that had been in the works for weeks. This is strike two on misleading investors. I haven't seen analysis on whether it was illegal, but I wouldn't want somebody like him on my board even if it succeeded in keeping him from buying up more stock. With him on the outside, maybe he causes more trouble than on th…

Shareholders like him on the board, and they would be even happier if he were running the company, because an Elon-run Twitter would be a lot more profitable.

It's certainly true that the stock is currently way up on the news of his investment.

I personally would not invest in a company where I cannot trust claims being made by the board.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#49

Post by Overtonwindow »

Ferrotin wrote: post #38
elicash wrote: post #13

He filed forms that he was going to be a passive investor, and the same day joined the board after discussion that had been in the works for weeks. This is strike two on misleading investors. I haven't seen analysis on whether it was illegal, but I wouldn't want somebody like him on my board even if it succeeded in keeping him from buying up more stock. With him on the outside, maybe he causes more trouble than on th…

Shareholders like him on the board, and they would be even happier if he were running the company, because an Elon-run Twitter would be a lot more profitable.

More profitable, more open, and more fair to all voices. Twitter has become a liberal vacuum that, as a liberal, has gone way too far to the left in silencing voices. It's not a private company, it's a public company, and I hope Elon turns it around into a true, free speech town square, instead of just an echo chamber for blue checks.
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