The Core

>Murdock and MySpace

Debbie agrees.

Quote of the day...

“It’s a ‘back-to-the-future’ reversion to content rules circa 2010, but one that ignores the lived experience over the last decade,” said Colin Crowell, Twitter’s former head of global public policy, who left the
company in 2019. “People eventually realize that the Wild West needs a sheriff, both for ensuring the safety of citizens but also for enhancing the prospects for commerce.”

>commerce

This is the key.  Musk does not care what individual Twitter users like me think or want, but reality hits the road with advertisers and if they make it clear that that they want limits on the craziness or they take their money elsewhere, Musk will listen.

That was a beautiful article. 

I don't see how we break the Gordian knot that the internet created - publishing platforms with near open access and no editorial process. That's a new thing. It's not like a traditional publisher where multiple people along the chain (agent, acquisitions editor, editor, bookstore buyer) all have to make a positive decision, not a block but a buy decision, before something sees the light of day. It's also not like a traditional common carrier where my phone calls are not broadcast and available to the world.

Will it just come down to advertisers forcing platforms into policing the internet?

It would seem so, based on Elon's letter to advertisers saying that Twitter cannot become a free-for-all- hellscape
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585619322239561728/photo/2

And it turns out, Truth Social is pretty aggressive about banning people they don't like, especially people who don't like Devin Nunes... though the driver is less clear (Devin Nunes personal ego or user feedback or just a fear of actual fr## sp##ch on Truth Social).
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/02/24/as-expected-trumps-social-network-is-rapidly-banning-users-it-doesnt-like-without-telling-them-why/

Amidst that some legislators want to overturn Section 230 so they can make websites responsible for moderating content. Others want to overturn it in order to prevent websites from moderating content.
https://www.theverge.com/21294198/section-230-tech-congress-justice-department-white-house-trump-biden

Meanwhile, a Texas court has ruled that Texas bill HB 12 can go into effect, because Youtube and Facebook are not websites, but are common carriers
https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/13/23068423/fifth-circuit-texas-social-media-law-ruling-first-amendment-section-230

HB 20, to recap a little, bans social media platforms from removing, downranking, demonetizing, or otherwise “discriminat[ing] against” content based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person.” It applies to any “internet website or application” that hits 50 million monthly active users and “enables users to communicate with other users,” with exceptions for internet service providers and media sites. Social networks also aren’t allowed to ban users based on their location in Texas, a provision clearly meant to stop sites from simply pulling out of the state — which might be the simplest solution for many of them.

So thirty years on, we still have not settled who is a publisher and who is a common carrier and somehow Twitter has to navigate all that.

I don't see his proposal as bad tbh. If anyone wants to flaunt themselves as a verified figure, pay a few quid.

Maybe part of the thinking is it pays to kick out the ones that are pretending to be them.

Could perhaps tax that amount to fund alternative 'platforms' to have a conversation, to mitigate any crazy Twitter decisions on what's right and wrong.

I guess I see it differently, he is literally proposing to charge the content creators.  If anything the pay should be going in the other direction.

I guess I see it differently, he is literally proposing to charge the content creators.  If anything the pay should be going in the other direction.

I see your point LM:  he should be glad Taylor Swift is on Twitter.  Ditto people like the US President and members of the administration because they help make Twitter the go to network.