this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 189 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's almost as if paying for a trusted or verified badge makes it easier to spread misinformation

[–] [email protected] 60 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

He claims that paying helps eliminate bots, there's no way he truly believes that or he is dumber than given credit for. The entities that are interested in disinformation have deep pockets. Most of disinformation on Facebook was done by paying them.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Musk knows, he just wants to make money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Why though? How is his life any different if he makes more money?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

Because Twitter owes more in interest on the loans he took to buy it than it makes every month and he needs to dig himself out of a financial black hole.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

What has been his motivation since becoming a millionaire? Money gives him control over others.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

He can say he makes more money for one. /s

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

If twatter turns a profit he looks good (to simps). If it craters he looks like he fucked up.

Two words for Lonnie: clown shoes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

But then unemployed facebook moms can’t spread their misinformation about whatever it is that’s virally spreading that week.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 11 months ago

I guess that means the dumpster fire platform is working exactly as Space Karen intended

[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's a feature not a bug. Delete Twitter

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

You made me double check that I had, I have.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Facebook up. Hit the lawyer. Delete gym.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago

As planned though! Elon Musk doesn't care about misinfo as long as aligns with his politics.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

blue check replies are fucking garbage, i'm so fucking sick of having to scroll thru them for 5 fucking minutes to maybe see a sensible take

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Just stop using it…

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Time to leave X then.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

People here are just gonna tell you to leave (I have done so myself) but if you can't for whatever reason something that can help is an extension like Blue Blocker which automatically blocks (or you can set it to mute) blue check marks as you encounter them. That way you don't give them money for their horrible baits. While I was at Twitter waiting until the people I followed shared their new socials (sadly most went to BlueSky instead of Mastodon so I lost them anyway) I used Blue Blocker in that manner. You can set exceptions for certain accounts tho I didn't, it mercilessly muted all checkmarks from my feed and revealed the bare Twitter behind. The result was somewhat like old Twitter at first but eventually it does get kinda slow as most of the valuable accounts become inactive. On the bright side that made leaving so much easier, so if you want to leave but need a motivator there's one that might help you.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Yep, sounds like Elon and the Saudi's have achieved their goal of crippling Twitter's utility as a means of organizing large scale protests and uprisings like the Arab Spring or the BLM protests in 2020. Now all that's left are propaganda bots and various flavours of right wing extremists.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Demand USA lawmakers make a fairness doctrine for media and social media. We used to have a fairness doctrine. Tweak it though.

The fairness doctrine had two basic elements: It required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters. Stations were given wide latitude as to how to provide contrasting views: It could be done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials. The doctrine did not require equal time for opposing views but required that contrasting viewpoints be presented. The demise of this FCC rule has been cited as a contributing factor in the rising level of party polarization in the United States.[5][6]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Everyone continuing to use Twitter/X is thereby materially supporting fascism. That's what the service exists for today.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

You take bolder shortcuts than me on Mario Kart

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

You should probably not listen to the opinion of anyone who pays Elon Musk 8 dollars a month for an emoji.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Elon doesn't care because he agrees with them.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

I mean this is already unsurprising given how easy it was to get a blue checkmark as a journalist back when it was Twitter.

Literally any media corporation could get it for any of their employees. But for anyone else, you had to pay thousands to get a middleman who had a contact at twitter to verify you. It was such a weird system.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

I'm shocked, shocked! Well, not that shocked.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

About everyone (including several news sites) have produced false/misleading claims about who launched which rocket and how many were killed and all the other stuff, because this fight is messy, and both sides want to look good.

How many of those misinformers just copied from another source that's supposed to be more trusted?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Blue Blocker is a great extension for anyone still using Twitter.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

This is not news. Stop upvoting Twitter spam, it's not even vaguely interesting.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Only fake people need to convince other people they are real

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This definitely feels le sampling bias to me. What percentage of xhitter as a whole is paying for blue checks? What percentage of information regarding the war from blue checks is true? How does that compare with the same figure for non paying customers?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

There's a lot of BS from both sides.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This is hardly surprising seeing as any one of us could create an account, buy a blue tick and then start posting any old shit.

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