X slapped a “warning” on links to NPR’s follow-up reporting on the Trump campaign’s altercation in Arlington National Cemetery, suggesting the link is “unsafe.”
  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    112·
    2 months ago

    It’s interesting that they are choosing this, of all things, to double down on. They’re not just contesting what happened at the event, but doing it in a confrontational fashion that guarantees it will remain a story long after the rest of us move on. It would be one thing to simply say “We had a discussion over this, We’re right, they’re wrong”. But they keep pushing it.

    How many NPR fans are on Twitter these days, anyway? If Twitter had not chosen to step in and falsely label this story, it might have gotten 10 click-throughs and that’s it. But now, it’s an actual story, it remains in the news, and I’m not sure if that’s positive for the Trump campaign.

    I know, it’s just what they do. It’s the crowd size thing, the Sharpie thing, the “alternative facts” all over again. My hope is that every time they push their false reality too far, a handful of voters realize what is happening, and it prevents them from gaining more power.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
      40·
      2 months ago

      How many NPR fans are on Twitter these days, anyway? If Twitter had not chosen to step in and falsely label this story, it might have gotten 10 click-throughs and that’s it. But now, it’s an actual story, it remains in the news, and I’m not sure if that’s positive for the Trump campaign.

      This is an interesting thought. Is Twitter now useful exclusively as a Streisand-Effect machine?

      • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
        24·
        2 months ago

        Trump’s tantrums shall be sequestered to his own platform no longer! they shall be amplified on Xitter once again!

    • Gerudo@lemm.ee
      17·
      2 months ago

      Oh, he’s for sure testing the waters on this relatively small event. Throw the spam tag on and see what happens. If not much happens, I guarantee you will be seeing it more on factual reported events.

      If there is a big uproar? Oops, our algorithm was malfunctioning.

    • socsa@piefed.socialEnglish
      15·
      2 months ago

      Because this looks really fucking bad. Like even by Trump standards. They know that their best hope is turning this into another heated alternative facts culture war issue.

      They do this not because they think it will actually change minds, but because it makes talking about “the most recent crazy thing Trump did” a “political statement” which means people can’t bring it up at work or around certain family, etc. If they turn it into a political third rail it prevents people from talking about it.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
      141·
      2 months ago

      guarantees it will remain a story long after the rest of us move on.

      A story where? On twitter where it is marked as unsafe and full of lies?

      This is not the streisand effect. This is demonstrating the power of literally controlling the media to a degree that even rupert murdock gets envious of. Because if your news channel is spewing garbage? Other news channels and “grass roots” efforts will correct it. But if the platform they use to correct it is the thing that is compromised?

      Shit like this? The trump story (that was never going to get traction) is irrelevant. What is relevant is musk and his handlers advertising what twitter can do and how long twitter is willing to “hold out” to regulation attempts.

      It is the same logic behind apple making it clear they will resist information requests until there is a court order or Proton outright telling its users what it will and won’t give law enforcement and governments. Except this is marketing toward those governments, not the users.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      2·
      2 months ago

      How many NPR fans are on Twitter these days, anyway?

      I’d say, probably a whole fucking lot? Normal people listen to NPR, and (unfortunately), “normal” people still use Twitter. There is definitely a massive overlap still.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
      65·
      2 months ago

      its easy when you don’t have any managing to do. the dude’s effectively unemployed. truly a testament to the real value that CEOs add to the economy. zero, if not less.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
          5·
          2 months ago

          i wanted to be fair to other CEOs who may not be the worst, and suffice with doing nothing.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
            4·
            2 months ago

            Honestly I don’t even know if I believe they are better than average, like fund managers guessing stocks. I bet if you took like 7 people who were retired from the industry (rotate them out every couple years) and had them vote on every decision a CEO would make, the company would be better off. And you could pay the whole group a fraction of what the CEO made.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
      12·
      2 months ago

      It’s probably super easy for him.

      He was probably browsing and just has a button to do shit to posts he doesn’t like.

  • LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.worldEnglish
    731·
    2 months ago

    I remember when NPR was boring, cerebral old people stuff on the radio. Now it’s extremist leftwing just because it stayed honest. Jesus

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      10·
      2 months ago

      The worst fucking part is that NPR has reacted to this shit by over-correcting and becoming obviously right-leaning in their reporting on US news. It’s a fucking joke. I guess all it takes to stop press from being “free” is a bunch of violent assholes willing to threaten to rape you family. Who would’ve thought.

  • realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.clubEnglish
    626·
    2 months ago

    Wasn’t he complaining about X censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story? This isn’t exactly the same, but it’s along the same lines.

    • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldEnglish
      631·
      2 months ago

      This isn’t exactly the same because the Arlington incident actually happened and has some bearing on an ongoing political campaign as opposed to being pure speculation and misinformation.

  • DogPeePoo@lemm.ee
    542·
    2 months ago

    “FREEDOM OF SPEECH” (🤣) EXCEPT FOR WHAT ELON BANS AND DELETES 😭😭😭

    ELON IS WORKING FOR THE RUSSIAN OLIGARCHY 🇷🇺

  • modifier@lemmy.ca
    50·
    2 months ago

    That is effectively an editorial decision, which is really interesting for a social network.

  • The Pantser@lemmy.world
    503·
    2 months ago

    So Elon is purposely curating content on the platform? Isn’t that a violation of section 230? They should lose that protection if they are actively blocking free speech and marking news as spam.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
      101·
      2 months ago

      Why would that be a section 230 violation? That only means the providers are not legally responsible for user content.

      • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.worldEnglish
        27·
        2 months ago

        It’s the argument a lot of politicians are making, that once platforms start curating user generated content they become responsible for it despite section 230. I think it’s bullshit, but it is the argument being made.

        • stoly@lemmy.world
          6·
          2 months ago

          Yeah it’s bs. Congress can change that, perhaps a court could make changes. Anything happening now is just fine and any changes would only affect the future.

  • Laereht@lemmy.world
    29·
    2 months ago

    If Xitter is truly the “global town square” that they claim it is, how have they not been sued for election interference yet?

  • slickgoat@lemmy.world
    17·
    2 months ago

    Dumping Twitter wasn’t even a slight wrench. It descended into the toilet pretty quickly after Musk took over. I occasionally sneak back to Reddit, although the experience isn’t that great. But Twitter? Nopes from me even though I liked it previously very much.