EFF is leaving X • Hacker News Board

Re: EFF is leaving X

#941

Post by Freedumbs » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

smoovb wrote: post #344

>The math hasn’t worked out for a while now. Have the costs to post to X grown too high? The salary of someone with the technical know-how to work the social media platform is too expensive? How does the math compare with Mastodon? Do you know about buffer.com? I started giving to EFF about 10 years ago. It's pretty much the first and only organization I have regularly given to. It always felt like a non-political or…

Using Twitter in 2026 is a political statement. I don't consume it, but using Twitter would be supporting right wing extremism (or whatever you classify Musk as).

Re: EFF is leaving X

#942

Post by traderj0e » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

Freedumbs wrote: post #941

smoovb wrote: post #344

>The math hasn’t worked out for a while now. Have the costs to post to X grown too high? The salary of someone with the technical know-how to work the social media platform is too expensive? How does the math compare with Mastodon? Do you know about buffer.com? I started giving to EFF about 10 years ago. It's pretty much the first and only organization I have regularly given to. It always felt like a non-political or…

Using Twitter in 2026 is a political statement. I don't consume it, but using Twitter would be supporting right wing extremism (or whatever you classify Musk as).

There are tons of famous people on Twitter who I'm pretty sure are not doing it as a statement of Musk alignment. There's not really any other place they'd be.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#943

Post by traderj0e » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

globular-toast wrote: post #874

squigz wrote: post #815

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when was the EFF "non-political"?

I believe "non-political" to Americans means not participating in the blue/red thing.

Right. "Non-partisan" might be a better way to put it, but that can also be misinterpreted as officially connected to a party.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#944

Post by traderj0e » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 3:43 PM UTC

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…

That's a good way to put it. When the response to "this shouldn't be politicized" is "everything is political," that misses the point. Digital freedom doesn't need to be left vs right. A lot of powerful lobbying groups don't pick a party and will fight within both parties during primaries instead, for example PhRMA and AIPAC.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#945

Post by subscribed » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:04 PM UTC

libertarianinpa wrote: post #814

lta wrote: post #776

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is part of the political polarization narrative. People are far more quick to throw around the word “fascist” for coalitions that support things like effective policing of crime or immigration controls that would result in a similar level of immigration as the recent past.

[flagged]

Re: EFF is leaving X

#946

Post by localuser13 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

Freedumbs wrote: post #941

smoovb wrote: post #344

>The math hasn’t worked out for a while now. Have the costs to post to X grown too high? The salary of someone with the technical know-how to work the social media platform is too expensive? How does the math compare with Mastodon? Do you know about buffer.com? I started giving to EFF about 10 years ago. It's pretty much the first and only organization I have regularly given to. It always felt like a non-political or…

Using Twitter in 2026 is a political statement. I don't consume it, but using Twitter would be supporting right wing extremism (or whatever you classify Musk as).

Maybe, but this is not what they claim in their post. Their official reason is that the numbers are not working out.

And even if that was the reason, that doesn't make sense. They're an activist organisation, their goal is to promote their ideas to people that need to hear them, and twitter users need that more than bluesky users.

Btw. I login to twitter once every few months to share my blog post or report. That's not a political statement.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#947

Post by schoen » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

traderj0e wrote: post #944

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…

That's a good way to put it. When the response to "this shouldn't be politicized" is "everything is political," that misses the point. Digital freedom doesn't need to be left vs right. A lot of powerful lobbying groups don't pick a party and will fight within both parties during primaries instead, for example PhRMA and AIPAC.

Note that EFF is a 501(c)(3) and is not allowed to endorse candidates, unlike other organizational structures. Some groups have multiple entities with different tax classifications, one of which can endorse candidates and one of which can't. EFF doesn't have that.

There is certainly a formula where e.g. single-issue PACs will support candidates of different parties who agree to support their issue. One of my EFF colleagues around 2009 (???) briefly experimented with making a separate PAC organization to lobby on copyright issues by donating to candidates (intentionally both Democrats and Republicans) who would agree to support the PAC's legislative principles. That PAC project only lasted one or two election cycles and I don't specifically remember why; I think the likeliest reason was simply a lack of donors.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#948

Post by ModernMech » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:10 PM UTC

LastTrain wrote: post #456

davidw wrote: post #118

My grandparents were pretty WASPy, conservative people who lived in northern Idaho. And they hated the white supremacist/neonazi groups up there with a burning passion. They were of an age to remember people going off to fight in Germany and Asia against that kind of ideology. They would have been absolutely appalled and ashamed to see a business leader throwing those salutes and backing it up with talk of a "white h…

I live in Idaho I know loads of people and family who I would have bet would reject what is happening in today’s Republican Party but man was I wrong. With very few exceptions they gobble it up.

If there's a second American civil war, I'm convinced it'll start in Idaho.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#949

Post by localuser13 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:10 PM UTC

smoovb wrote: post #344

>The math hasn’t worked out for a while now. Have the costs to post to X grown too high? The salary of someone with the technical know-how to work the social media platform is too expensive? How does the math compare with Mastodon? Do you know about buffer.com? I started giving to EFF about 10 years ago. It's pretty much the first and only organization I have regularly given to. It always felt like a non-political or…

>I started giving to EFF about 10 years ago. It's pretty much the first and only organization I have regularly given to.

I'm in the same boat - not 10 years, but regularly, and a significant amount of money (for me).

I'm a bit confused now. Their post is absolutely not convincing (for the reasons you outlined - tweeting does not cost anything, and despite what they say they clearly get a lot of outreach there). I think I'll evaluate their achievements with more scrutiny before my next yearly donation.

Re: EFF is leaving X

#950

Post by Freedumbs » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:27 PM UTC

traderj0e wrote: post #942

Freedumbs wrote: post #941

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using Twitter in 2026 is a political statement. I don't consume it, but using Twitter would be supporting right wing extremism (or whatever you classify Musk as).

There are tons of famous people on Twitter who I'm pretty sure are not doing it as a statement of Musk alignment. There's not really any other place they'd be.

It's my opinion that the most powerful weapon consumers have is the power to vote with your time and money. Using Twitter is voting to support Elon Musk whether intentional or not.