Twitter under Musk....

[Ian H]

Not really. The Ma!l has one editorial viewpoint, whereas Xwitter has many contributors with widely diverging views. I don't go near the poisonous end (and it's still reasonably easy to ignore).

 

[stowie]

The trouble with banning stuff is that invariably someone will eventually ban your stuff for disinformation/being subversive/undermining the State or for whatever other reason it suits them.

Well herein lies the problem. The UK (as with most countries) has had laws banning certain stuff (or at least making the state able to prosecute it) for a long, long time.

Those outraged at people being locked up for their speech after the riots would like to believe both that this is a new boot of the state coming down on their necks and that they are advocating for free speech for all. Neither is true. I doubt many were manning the barricades when - for example - Anjem Choudary was convicted for advocating for a proscribed organisation and cheering on terrorist atrocities in 2016. In the Judges own words, Choudary had crossed the line between expression of views and a criminal act.

The particularly nasty stuff that had been posted by those now convicted has been swilling around the internet for a good long time. Those convicted expected to be able to do it again. Unfortunately for them, their postings were part of riots which tried to enact some of the things advocated in posts such as killing people in their hotels. So the state moved from being disinterested to prosecuting, amid outrage which really stemmed from the fact they had got away with it before and expected to do so again.

There are real free-speech advocates but their vision can become pretty dark quite quickly. Is nothing off the table in law when it comes to speech? In practice liberal states like the UK need to tread a line between freedom of expression and incitement to hatred, violence, exploitation and so on. I don't doubt they get this wrong at times. But we are not in a Russia situation where any dissent or criticism of the government is suppressed. Those pretending we are in this situation, or even on the road to a Russia type government, are either lacking in critical thinking or doing so for their own purposes.

 

[albion]

I was just reading up in the Irish worker who won $600,000 compensation when essentially sacked for not agreeing to Musks new terms of 'hard employment '. Ireland has fair employment protection.
Yet it seems many a job in the US is 'at will' meaning people can be dumped out of a job for almost any old reason.

It all adds to the 100s of thousands more on the streets and in prison over there.

 

[albion]

'Fascists'
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ds-to-proposed-fines-for-disinformation-on-x/

Twitter failed go make money more than partly because of the monitoring costs.
X under Musk seems to be ever descending.

 

[AuroraSaab]

Yet it seems many a job in the US is 'at will' meaning people can be dumped out of a job for almost any old reason.

US employment terms are notoriously poor. Few paid holiday days and practically no maternity leave are the norm. As is working into your 70's because pension provision is limited. It's a very harsh job market for the less well educated and unskilled.