When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, reports focused on his dismantling of its trust and safety team. But this obscured what turned out to be a deeper long-term shift. Under Musk, X built a new political-economy infrastructure based on advertising “revenue sharing” 🧵1/? - ThreadSky

andrewchadwick.com • 109 days ago

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, reports focused on his dismantling of its trust and safety team. But this obscured what turned out to be a deeper long-term shift. Under Musk, X built a new political-economy infrastructure based on advertising “revenue sharing” 🧵1/?

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henrybean.bsky.social•109 days ago

Surely Twitter was always a private corporation masquerading as a public forum. In the end commercial logic always made it susceptible to exactly the same abuses privately owned media outlets are prey to - ie political manipulation is always more valuable than simple advertising revenue.

phatcontroller.bsky.social•2 days ago

Does this apply to Bluesky?

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

So a remarkable product of fragmentation of the media system has been the unexpected rise of what we might term the "ideological platform mogul." /Ends

cheryldopp.bsky.social•100 days ago

Yes, and great observation and phrasing, but, let's be clear, the bully pulpit ideological platform began with Murdoch starting Fox on cable. But, agree is a by-product of media fragmentation, I grew up with just 3 networks. Who knew additional sources would delegitimize respected journalism.

andrewchadwick.com•100 days ago

Thank you! Agree. Media owners: back to the future. Unexpected.

d-flo1.bsky.social•109 days ago

Ideological platform mogul. I will start using that term

phatcontroller.bsky.social•2 days ago

Shades of the Rothermere and Murdoch ideological newspaper moguls?

followlori.bsky.social•109 days ago

cc @renatagames.bsky.social

renatagames.bsky.social•109 days ago

Pois é... Amiga, sei nem o que dizer. Uncharted territory ahead...

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

A once-general platform can become an ideological publisher in the service of its owner’s beliefs and a broader international movement of the right and far right. 7/?

stopfundinghate.bsky.social•98 days ago

A very salient point - and it definitely seems like an ongoing risk for all platforms that can be bought or otherwise taken over - perhaps including this one? Do you think a non-profit ownership structure (such as that used by Wikipedia) be any kind of safeguard and/or be workable for social media?

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

Yet Musk, with his frequent personal interventions in election campaigns via biased and false information he posted to his 200 million followers, together with a skewed X algorithm that prioritizes posts from those in the ad revenue sharing scheme, showed the world an alternative future. 6/?

garethbarnard.bsky.social•109 days ago

I think it's more sinister than that. I'm sure X was also suppressing posts and engagement for people who didn't support Trump and promoting anyone who did.

d-flo1.bsky.social•109 days ago

I experienced that discrimination against Harris supporters. I also experienced a massive influx of follows by accounts with little or no activity but filled with pictures of scantily clad and sometimes nude women oisog as sex workers

d-flo1.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's still happening on X. Especially when I respond to Musk posts. Almost instantly (within 1-3 seconds) I get a like from someone (or bot?) advertising their own body for sexual ogling (and more?). I'm convinced I was identified by X as a liberal voice so I also get demoted in the thread depth

garethbarnard.bsky.social•2 days ago

Some academics actually did a study where they proved Dem supporters were throttled and and Republican supporters were boosted.

d-flo1.bsky.social•2 days ago

And why for the love of God doesn't that shock anyone? I mean this is the situation where the biggest baddest wolf in the world convinced the farmer to sell the hen house to him, without consulting the hens.

d-flo1.bsky.social•109 days ago

*posing as

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

Silicon Valley platform companies spent two decades telling citizens and regulators that social media were not “publishers.” 5/?

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

It promoted the Islamophobic disinformation that sparked and sustained the UK’s 2024 racist street violence; the worst the country had seen since the 1970s. 4/?

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

This new infrastructure played a key role not only in spreading misleading claims (for example about non-citizen voting) in the US campaign, but also promoting Musk’s America PAC’s $1m a day cash prize draw encouraging Trump supporters to register to vote in seven key states. 3/?

gemslawrence.bsky.social•92 days ago

And he only asked for names and home addresses.

d-flo1.bsky.social•109 days ago

How did the judge(s) get away with ignoring the applicability of state law to Musk's deliberate misrepresentation?

andrewchadwick.com•109 days ago

“Verified” paying subscribers with above-average followings could now monetize sensationalism. Musk fused this with his own “free-speech” absolutist right-wing proprietor influence and amplified right-wing disinformation. 2/?

jodellm.bsky.social•109 days ago

Would you amplify ✔️solutions to dis-info?

While criticizing 😳😬clicks for sensationalism, you amplify it.—may I suggest we can also amplify
✔️a Call To Action: #internetForTrust

5 Guidelines
👇
https://www.unesco.org/en/internet-trust

Or ✔️support local news📰
@propublica.org
@mnreformer.bsky.social

ninguem-importante.bsky.social•109 days ago

📌

jofromeurope.bsky.social•109 days ago

Just deleted Twitter from my phone.

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