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Comment by epakai | Hacker News Reader

As much as we all like to shit on social media, it's also been a force for large and fast public backlash in many spheres of interest.

I tend to view Musk's actions as focused on achieving that outcome rather than destroying Twitter, and it's one aspect that's hard to replace even if we don't always like the outcome.

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Everything about his public statements and product decisions indicate to me a person who is utterly incapable of articulating a strategic vision or measurable outcome. The only things he's ever talked about is maximizing profit which is an obvious one but it's an end not a means. I don't really see how any product decisions have been directed at any intended change in discourse aside from his surprisingly explicit preference for conservative politics and professional liars (ie Tucker Carlson). His spat with NPR was a little sideshow but it betrayed his lack of consideration for objective facts before taking action.

It’s not clear what outcome you’re referring to. You say it’s “been a force for…backlash…” So is the outcome you think he’s focused on is to stop that? Or to redirect it to his own interests? Are either of those good outcomes?

I think Musk doesn't like activists of a certain bent, and he's made moves that are damaging Twitter to disenfranchise those groups in particular.

Maybe the net outcome is good, maybe not. I think it's hard to achieve that type of outrage (both good and bad) without these massive social media sites. So we might get less toxic social media, but reduce our ability to effect change through social justice.

Buddy have you ever been on Twitter lately? It's literal peak toxicity.

Musk literally just started bribing right wing activist accounts with Twitter cash. He is absolutely not wanting to disenfranchise activists, he's wanting to target them at people he doesn't like.

How is ad revenue share open to everybody "bribing right wing activist accounts with Twitter cash"?

It’s not open to everybody. It’s just a couple dozen accounts, mostly right wing influencers.

Isn't the most prominent person posting about that money one of the Krassensteins? They are probably right wing by world standards but in the US they are big time Democrats and got famous in Trump's replies saying "how dare you sir".

I think it’s the absence of pro-authoritarian payouts that one would want, not the presence of an account who is not.

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