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EFF is leaving X

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Re: EFF is leaving X

#921

Post by Departed7405 »

gonzobonzo wrote: post #752
supern0va wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>X, for better or worse, gets you eyes, more so than any other alternative social media. But that is actually what they called out: they're not getting eyes anymore. Views at X have cratered so hard that it's barely worth the time.

I just checked their Facebook and X page. The X page is getting much more eyes. For instance, they posted their article "The FAA’s “Temporary” Flight Restriction for Drones is a Blatant Attempt to Criminalize Filming ICE" to both accounts. The results: X: 1,500 likes, 50 comments, 846 shares. Facebook: 58 likes, 8 comments, 22 shares. Bluesky: 94 likes, 3 comments, 51 shares.

Interesting indeed. The story doesn't seem to be radically different on TikTok. It goes up to 15K views, that's still 3 times less than X.

Seems clear while their reach has decreased over time, it's still the highest on X.

I do agree with the decision, but declining reach is not the primary reason, it is merely what got them over the line.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#922

Post by rpdillon »

lta wrote: post #776
schoen wrote: post #340

I worked at EFF from 2001 to 2019. When I started, EFF was a very effective coalition between (primarily) progressives and libertarians. This had largely been the case since EFF was founded in 1990 by both progressives and libertarians. When people would call EFF a "left-wing" organization, I would correct them. It wasn't a left-wing organization, it was a big tent and had consistently had very significant non-left-w…

I hear what you're saying and it's very insightful. But I'm under the impression the libertarians have moved a lot closer to fascism I'm the recent years so it's hard to keep them in any tent. The "society has become more polarized" is an euphemism to describe an important rise of fascism across the world and in the US (that I'm not a citizen of). Yes it's polarized, because there's a side that's trying to create a p…

I trend libertarian because I have a strong anti-authoritarian streak. I used to think of myself as closer to the Republicans, but these days I mostly only agree with the Democrats. Weird times.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#923

Post by Planktonne »

tts626 wrote: post #684

"Young people, people of color, queer folks, activists, and organizers use Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook every day." EFF knows its audience. No doubt that's why "X" isn't working so well for them. Most tech professionals do not fit these categories, however much powers that be have tried to change that.

There are lots of tech people in all of those categories.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#924

Post by Planktonne »

warbaker wrote: post #235

I wish this announcement weren't infused with intersectionality. "Your abortion fund uses TikTok to spread crucial information" is listed as one of three sample reasons you might use social media. I support reproductive rights! But I don't want EFF to do that, and I don't want EFF to push conservatives out of the movement. I want EFF to appeal to everyone who cares about digital civil liberties, including people who…

I think the sort of person who sees any mention of a user having an abortion fund as evidence that the EFF wants "to push conservatives out of the movement" is going to see everything as infused with intersectionality.

You've leapt to such a strong conclusion on the basis of so little evidence.

> I want EFF to appeal to everyone who cares about digital civil liberties, including people who disagree with me on other issues.

An EFF that refuses to use any word that you might one day see as related to intersectionality would not be able to do this.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#925

Post by paulbjensen »

unselect5917 wrote: post #890
paulbjensen wrote: post #333

There does seem to be evidence that X (formerly Twitter) is a dying platform, but what surprised me here is that longtime platforms like Snapchat, Reddit and even Pinterest get more MAUs than X - and this is more October 2025: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-net... It would be really interesting to learn if brands and advertisers are seeing the same thing?

>There does seem to be evidence that X (formerly Twitter) is a dying platform, Absurd statement. Check the App Store's news app rankings: https://apps.apple.com/us/iphone/charts/6009 X/twitter is #1. reddit is #4, NYT is #11, Fox is #16, AP is #18, CNN is #21. That's not a dying platform as much as you clearly wish that were true. The question is why are you so hellbent on convincing people something that is clearly…

Maybe declining might be a better choice of word than dying.

Threads apparently overtook X for DAUs last year according to SimilarWeb.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#926

Post by zbentley »

bifrost wrote: post #851
schoen wrote: post #340

I worked at EFF from 2001 to 2019. When I started, EFF was a very effective coalition between (primarily) progressives and libertarians. This had largely been the case since EFF was founded in 1990 by both progressives and libertarians. When people would call EFF a "left-wing" organization, I would correct them. It wasn't a left-wing organization, it was a big tent and had consistently had very significant non-left-w…

It was over for me when the EFF advanced the charge of government censorship of the internet. The EFF had previously been a client of mine so I was somewhat familiar with how things worked and basically once Gilmore was out, it went downhill. They did a lot of good work (much like the ACLU) but they are now honestly unrecognizable. My old company donated around $3k/mo of services for almost a decade which in the gran…

> groups that actively pursue the government for violating our constitutional rights

Could you share some examples?

Re: EFF is leaving X

#927

Post by shovas »

mayneack wrote: post #573
shovas wrote: post #447

[flagged]

How is twitter more of a free speech platform than the three open federated options (activity pub, at protocol, and nostr)?

Keyword "major". I'd love for there to be an alternative to X. Similar to how there's no reasonable alternative to the scale and value proposition of YouTube.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#928

Post by jesse_dot_id »

pie_flavor wrote: post #789
jesse_dot_id wrote: post #135

Astounds me that anyone is still using that platform after seeing how Musk treated the engineers when he took over.

Why am I supposed to care about that, as a platform user? Twitter isn't a jobs program for a particular set of engineers. I'll leave when it stops being entertaining. Comments like these are so weird.

Because empathy is a trait of intelligence.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#929

Post by trinsic2 »

schoen wrote: post #340

I worked at EFF from 2001 to 2019. When I started, EFF was a very effective coalition between (primarily) progressives and libertarians. This had largely been the case since EFF was founded in 1990 by both progressives and libertarians. When people would call EFF a "left-wing" organization, I would correct them. It wasn't a left-wing organization, it was a big tent and had consistently had very significant non-left-w…

How is this related to the article? It feels like you went way off-topic with a person pet peeve.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#930

Post by swat535 »

trinsic2 wrote: post #929
schoen wrote: post #340

I worked at EFF from 2001 to 2019. When I started, EFF was a very effective coalition between (primarily) progressives and libertarians. This had largely been the case since EFF was founded in 1990 by both progressives and libertarians. When people would call EFF a "left-wing" organization, I would correct them. It wasn't a left-wing organization, it was a big tent and had consistently had very significant non-left-w…

How is this related to the article? It feels like you went way off-topic with a person pet peeve.

It's related, because over 1000 comments here are discussing why they are making such a political move (cloaking it as an audience "reach" issue).

You may want to skim the rest of the comments to understand the issue. The X platform is where many conservatives and centrists reside.

I don't have an issue with EFF wanting to no longer align itself with anyone who is not on the Left, but I prefer they just state that instead.

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