We've long become used to gaming industry buyouts; between Microsoft and Sony's recent acquisitions, and future rumors, it's of little surprise to see a smaller studio scooped up by an infinitely larger one. But over in the tech world, there's been a buyout a little weirder than usual; on Monday, Twitter was bought by the ever-eccentric world's richest man, Elon Musk. The cost of the deal totals a staggering $44 billion--$54.20 per share of stock. Following this, Musk plans to make Twitter a privately-owned company, and the full acquisition is set to take place later in 2022.

In regards to the buyout, Elon Musk stressed that he wants to improve Twitter by adding new features, making the site's algorithms open source, and focusing on "free speech", claiming that the company has a lot of potential. Employees of Twitter expressed frustration at the lack of transparency from the higher-ups within the company about the buyout, and nervousness as they were unsure what would happen to their jobs, as Musk plans to make drastic changes in the future.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," said Mr. Musk. "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."

Source

 

[tabzer]

...Or people hate him because his "success" was predicated on being born into immense wealth generated by slave labor. He also bought out Tesla and called himself a "founder" after the fact, he's never created or invented anything of his own. Hell, even just hating him for his smarmy pre-teen like attitude is perfectly valid. Man could've been or done absolutely anything with all that money and he decided to become the world's biggest cringelord.

He should go all fedora and wield a massive edge. That's the way, right? Cringe is a double-edged blade.

It literally is though. Jesus physically kicked people like Musk out of the church when they tried to prey on the impoverished. Maybe don't cherry pick quotes from the bible if you don't like everything else it has to say.

He flipped tables on money-changers, and I think everyone, in the current age, is guilty of that.

 

[Xzi]

He should go all fedora and wield a massive edge. That's the way, right? Cringe is a double-edged blade.

There is a picture of him floating around out there that's on that same level of cringe. He's done everything he can to try to have it removed from the internet. Same with the picture that shows him balding before he got his hair plugs.

He flipped tables on money-changers, and I think everyone, in the current age, is guilty of that.

In the modern interpretation they're assumed to have been loan sharks of sorts. In any case, the bible is very clear on this topic, to the extent that it repeats the same thing in different ways throughout. "The meek shall inherit the Earth."

 

[JuanMena]

There is a picture of him floating around out there that's on that same level of cringe.

This one?

Or this one?

This one maybe?

 

[Prior22]

No one has the right to spread blatant lies about electoral fraud. That’s not free speech. That’s defamation of character. If conservative lies about the 2020 election are allowed to spread via Twitter again hopefully Musk will be held financially liable.

 

[diggeloid]

This is a great opportunity for building a Twitter competitor. Once the nazis/supremacists/edge lords/conspiracy theorists/etc start flooding peoples' feeds with their shit, there will be a surge in demand for alternatives. I don't think Elon will admit he was wrong fast enough to stop the bleeding.

I just hope that the company to fill that role isn't one of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. More power to the monopolists is not what the tech industry needs. Maybe Gbatemp will be the chosen one?

 

[FAKEdemicBioPYSCHONANOWAR]

Wasn't it already a private company? Does this mean it was government owned wut?

 

[FAKEdemicBioPYSCHONANOWAR]

Twitter is a cesspool with MAPs (aka Pedos), racists, double standard assholes, etc. If he can make a difference, more power to him.

So is facebook /instagram and youtube becoming with cencorship.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

I seriously think that people looking at this at such a skewed political way really does not understand what Musk is all about when it comes down to it. The guy is a goofball, a troll at times even. He has not political edge to his plans, he probably just wants to turn Twitter into another 4chan and see what happens. People arguing about Twitter and politics, that shit was already there and a problem long before Elon got involved, but I just find it funny, as I am sure he did as well that most of the opposition against him trying to buy Twitter were from entities who owned social media sites or at the helm of major news entities. Its an instance the pot calling the kettle black in terms of how skewed the platforms of voice are, and nothing is really pure from influence.

If I see Elon do anything with Twitter, he will probably induce chaos and randomness to it. Also the argument about free speech is circular and without substance. No one knows what they really want out of it other than to hear what they want to hear and have any dissenting opinions be dropped off the face of the earth. That's not how free speech works, but the definition has lost all meaning in this day and age, not that I support the radical end of it, but we also seemed to have lost the definition of common sense and human decency in recent times as well with the result of just devolved humans flinging their shit at each other as a means of communication.

Social media was and will always be bad. Between giving everyone a platform, and losing any form of common sense and critical thinking, letting the internet do our thinking for us will only lead to our ruin. Learn to break away from it and be better for it.

 

[Marc_LFD]

So is facebook /instagram and youtube becoming with cencorship.

True.

YouTube is becoming harder to ditch censorship and with dislikes disabled they're somewhat encouraging scammers to act.

But hey, can't hurt them feels, right?

 

[Dr_Faustus]

Wasn't it already a private company? Does this mean it was government owned wut?

A publicly traded company is in part controlled and owned by its share holders, with those who have the most shares be the board of executives that have more influence for what goes on in the company than a privately owned one which has no external influences but instead all internal. There is no need to please share holders so there is no devaluation as a threat. One person theoretically has control and that's all. Elon took the company private so he could do whatever he wanted with it.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

True.

YouTube is becoming harder to ditch censorship and with dislikes disabled they're somewhat encouraging scammers to act.

But hey, can't hurt them feels, right?

Scammers and more importantly companies. Some of the most worst downvoted things on YT were movie trailers, game trailers and commercials. I would not be surprised at all if the entire intent of removing dislikes was to protect companies from having their videos being downvoted into oblivion because of negative appeal. Something that would easily be seen, and reported on by multiple outlets. Now with that gone there is no real metric for how to protest against something shitty.

Just imagine if this happened before the first Sonic trailer dropped? Would the backlash be as noticeable enough to have an outcry to reanimate the movie? Maybe, but without that public disapproval of the downvote system it would have been much harder to convince otherwise. This shit worked for a reason, but now it does not so companies do not have to care anymore about potential backlash. It does not show up for them publically anymore and therefor protects them. Isn't that just wonderful?

 

[N7Kopper]

You know what persuades me that Elon's free speech canard is more than just rhetoric?

The tantrums. All of the godforsaken tantrums. Why in the hell would any of these people be mad otherwise? Words can be fickle things; the far-left have their own distinct definitions for common words. (Racism is when you don't treat people differently based on ethnic background or skin colour for example) It's not unreasonable that their definiton of free speech is "I say what I want, you shut up and listen." especially when you consider Marcuse's principle of Repressive Tolerance, which is just that. (That guy's wild - he hated capitalism because it liberated the working class from serfdom, and free workers make poor revolutionaries: they make loyalists instead.)

It makes sense that they would condemn Musk in that case. He's not using their definition, therefore he's lying.

Scammers and more importantly companies. Some of the most worst downvoted things on YT were movie trailers, game trailers and commercials. I would not be surprised at all if the entire intent of removing dislikes was to protect companies from having their videos being downvoted into oblivion because of negative appeal. Something that would easily be seen, and reported on by multiple outlets. Now with that gone there is no real metric for how to protest against something shitty.

Just imagine if this happened before the first Sonic trailer dropped? Would the backlash be as noticeable enough to have an outcry to reanimate the movie? Maybe, but without that public disapproval of the downvote system it would have been much harder to convince otherwise. This shit worked for a reason, but now it does not so companies do not have to care anymore about potential backlash. It does not show up for them publically anymore and therefor protects them. Isn't that just wonderful?

Revolutionary alt-left companies and revolutionary alt-left politicians.

So is being a billionaire. Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle and all that. I'm not Christian, but it sure sounds like that Jesus guy wouldn't have cared much for Elon.

Brush up on your theology then, lad. Assuming Elon is being earnest (and why wouldn't he be? Twitter's staff are nefarious, not stupid. They wouldn't be mad if he was lying.) then he is being Christlike in spending a significant portion of his fortune for the social good of holding your ideological bedfellows to something resembling equal account. That is literally what Jesus wanted. Give up your wealth of your own free will for righteous causes. He could have Bought Large Mansions with it - unlike those other large mansions it's his own money and assets. But he didn't.

 

[Deleted member 586536]

I'm sorry that you're envious. Envy is a sin you know.

and so is greed, and if someone is greedy enough to hold a lot of wealth, and not fix core issues like idk, homelessness, or perhaps world hunger, or healthcare, and choose to just let people die through the elements, starvation, or inability to get important drugs like insuiln. But instead focus on space programs that only the very few will be able to access, or cars that are only really accessible for the wealthy.
Then just maybe that anger is incredibly justified

 

[N7Kopper]

No one has the right to spread blatant lies about electoral fraud. That’s not free speech. That’s defamation of character. If conservative lies about the 2020 election are allowed to spread via Twitter again hopefully Musk will be held financially liable.

Lies about the 2016 or 2020 US federal election won't be held to account without a massive paradigm shift. Bring on that lawsuit. It will reveal all of the truth. Unless of course, the free speech standard enshrined in the US Bill of Rights (Congress shall make no law...) is made sacrosanct, then the truth shall be smothered under executive orders and corporate muscle. Whichever way it lies.

 

[Stone_Wings]

I don't know what you've been smoking, but Twitter is notorious for censoring opposing viewpoints. Their members cry racism and *phobic when they come across something they dislike or don't agree with and even though the content is neither racist or *phobic its removed by the moderators. I'll be happy to see people being allowed to share their opinions and beliefs and not have to be scared their content will be deleted.

You're so completely full of it. You have WAY too much tin foil than is good for you & you are obviously clueless when it comes to private companies, freedom of speech, and ToS agreements. Clueless. I also painted a perfectly good comparison exmaple for you, that you chose to ignore when composing your response. What am I smoking? Maybe something you should be. It could help you with a lot of that paranoia and anxiety.

 

[Xzi]

Assuming Elon is being earnest (and why wouldn't he be? Twitter's staff are nefarious, not stupid. They wouldn't be mad if he was lying.) then he is being Christlike in spending a significant portion of his fortune for the social good of holding your ideological bedfellows to something resembling equal account.

Of course he's not being earnest, he bought Twitter just to amplify his own political views and allow for extremist alt-right rhetoric to run rampant. "Supply side Jesus" is satire created by Al Franken, apparently you mixed him up with the actual Jesus.

 

[DuoForce]

Bro bought twitter just to unban Trump

 

[N7Kopper]

You're so completely full of it. You have WAY too much tin foil than is good for you & you are obviously clueless when it comes to private companies, freedom of speech, and ToS agreements. Clueless. I also painted a perfectly good comparison exmaple for you, that you chose to ignore when composing your response. What am I smoking? Maybe something you should be. It could help you with a lot of that paranoia and anxiety.

Twitter was a public company. Now it is a private company, privately owned by Elon Musk. If your whole thing is that private companies can do whaaaattteeeevvvveeerrrr they want, then stop complaining now that it's owned by someone who doesn't need to crush his opposition before the debate even starts. It's a private company. He can allow all that scary disinformation to be in the same discussion as your truth. And if he is just like the people you're defending, they'll just use their media oligopoly to tell everyone about it. Problem solved.

Daryl Davis never would have got anywhere by censoring the Ku Klux Klan. (Not that you could have done that back in the antebellum South - back then they were woke darlings. Birth of A Nation won an Oscar.) He listened to them, debated with them, and convinced them. Because they're idiots.

It's the same energy as "We're not teaching Critical Race Theory in schools! Stop banning Critical Race Theory in schools!"

Of course he's not being earnest, he bought Twitter just to amplify his own political views and allow for extremist alt-right rhetoric to run rampant. "Supply side Jesus" is satire created by Al Franken, apparently you mixed him up with the actual Jesus.

Then Twitter's employees would have literally no reason to be angry. They would just hop on the new bandwagon. In truth, though, "alt-right" is a catch-all term for anyone who likes eating more than they hate successful people. Lotta resentment for the world's richest African-American.

 

[Vorde]

Maybe look words up you don't understand before making yourself look silly.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=irregardless

I didn't make myself look silly, I just take my own language seriously.
Read https://www.grammarly.com/blog/irregardless/ for my thoughts on the matter.
TLDR; It's a word, but it shouldn't be used.

 

[Xzi]

Then Twitter's employees would have literally no reason to be angry.

Of course they do, Musk is a shitty boss that underpays employees and won't allow for unionization.

In truth, though, "alt-right" is a catch-all term for anyone who likes eating more than they hate successful people.

No, it's a catch-all for the scum of humanity, the type of people who won't support social safety nets just because black or gay people might benefit from them. The type of people who view equality/equity as oppression because they're used to a life of privilege.

Lotta resentment for the world's richest African-American.

Well deserved resentment toward a yuppie who has never truly worked a day in his life, yes. Doesn't matter how much money he has or memes he posts, he'll never erase his true titles of slave driver and human rights abuser.