For years, X (formerly known as Twitter) has enabled me to engage with a global audience interested in ethical questions, especially those focusing on animals, effective altruism, utilitarianism and bioethics.
I left after Elon Musk bought the platform. I don’t appreciate his business ethics, personal integrity or political interference. He can run his life, but I don’t want him running mine.
With the greatest respect Peter, this seems directionally wrong.
If we compare political interference pre-Musk and post-Musk, there's no contest. Twitter's political interference was overtly political and forceful, i.e. it included direct censorship, banning people for many now uncontroversially truthful claims (e.g. Hunter Biden laptop, many claims during Covid, and even routinely banning people for reposting official government statistics which were politically inconvenient), as well as directly blocking the US President.
In contrast, the main complaints against Musk are precisely that he has *not* banned offensive speech (something which as a founder of JCI) you should respect as a dramatic improvement. The evidence that Musk has indirectly evinced political bias by boosting his own posts is inconclusive. In my view it's quite weak, but at least on post-Musk Twitter I can read both sides [pro https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1857734822799540684 anti https://x.com/cphoffmann/status/1858876947704471873] discussing the science openly, which would not have been allowed on old Twitter
I think there is, in fact, a contest. So-called 'free speech absolutist' Musk banned Ken Klippenstein for posting the dossier on JD Vance, cooperated with authoritarian governments to remove/suppress tweets, made "CIS" into an offensive term (no matter the context) leading to people having their tweets hidden (at the very least), removed labels from Russian/Chinese state-sponsored media accounts, and recently banned accounts criticizing him from the right.
Perhaps most worryingly, the tweets of Uighur activists and those critical of the CCP seem to be suppressed by the algorithm, while the number of Chinese bots seems to have skyrocketed (although this is anecdotal).
This is without going into his various lawsuits against advertisers and those who have made comments about him/his running of twitter than he doesn't like.
Tired of reading this line. I was on Twitter for a long time. The old twitter as far more balanced unless you think sharing space with Neo Nazis somehow makes a place more balanced. Problem is that Elon twitter is just drowning in right-wing trolling, porn and hate speech. If that looks like win for free speech to you I don't know what to say.
There is a misconception today that free speech is measured in how many offensive things you can say per minute. The idea of speaking truth to power is totally forgotten. That is the whole rational behind free speech. It is NOT for billionaires like Elon to scream that UK government should be overthrown. People like him always have a voice. It is for the common people. People crushed by people like him.
And bringing up COID19 is frankly laughable given that Elon routinely spread disinformation to his 200 million followers on COIVID19 and would not change tact despite being called out multiple times. Read Sam Harris on it: https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-elon
Twitter under Elon is just a propaganda outlet for the far-right. You are attacking Twitter for having done what was pretty normal moderation in all media at all times. Moderating is not to be a propaganda outlet.
"Elon routinely spread disinformation to his 200 million followers on COIVID19"
This is both a non sequitur (posting false claims on Twitter would not be an infringement of free speech) and not supported by your link (Harris discusses Elon being wrong in the early days of the pandemic- posting "The coronavirus panic is dumb" in 2020- not him "routinely spread[ing] disinformation... on COIVID19 (sic)".
After seeing substantial evidence of Russia’s finger on the scale on X, that was it for me. I don’t just mean Russian bot farms. I mean them being virtually welcomed by Musk. X became platform that was quite obviously being played like a fiddle to serve an agenda. That agenda is the agenda of a post-truth authoritarian wave of which Trump is a part.
I refuse to subscribe to a post-truth agenda that serves to make unethical conduct less noticeable by obfuscating fact and spreading lies.
Honestly not sure if I’m getting baited here or you are serious?
I’m quite aware that mere disagreement doesn’t make some account a bot account. However, there remains substantial evidence of Russian bots influencing U.S. elections. That information is easily accessible and I encourage you to look.
About as crazy as rewriting Russian gaining influence to "completely manipulating the election". That is not the same thing. You are not engaging with CG in an honest fashion.
So we should avoid commercial interactions with people who have pollical views that we disagree with? Must I quiz the barber on which candidates he supports before letting him cut my hair? Or, perhaps, I only need forsake those vendors who are open, public, and honest about their views - bread from the crypto-Nazi baker is a-OK!
This isn’t just “people having political views we disagree with.” Twitter is now the propaganda arm for Trump. The question is whether you want to support that or not
What’s your proof of that? A study by academics hostile to him? Were you disconcerted that Twitter pre-Musk censored their political opponents, or is it only when your side appears to be threatened that you react?
Elon owns Twitter and works directly for Trump. The proof is in your face. You either don’t dislike Trump enough or are too addicted to twitter to give it up
The owner of twitter reports directly to Trump and controls how twitter works. The burden of proof is on you to show why twitter is not going to be biased towards Trump
I left as soon as Musk took over Twitter. I was pretty sure his ownership wouldn't be a positive change. I've been surprised that it has taken so many so long to decide to leave, too.
As is befitting of my substack handle, I disagree with most of the comments posted here. I think Professor Singer's justification for leaving X is inconsistent with the consequentialist philosophy he has defended for his long (and very distinguished) career. Whatever one might think of Musk and his politics, the important question is whether X is a better social media platform under his ownership than previously (where "better" is to be analysed using the utilitarian calculus).
Professor Singer's own analysis cites the "drastic" change to X that has occurred under Musk, such that it has "increasingly shifted toward serving his political agenda". This undoubtedly correct. Surveys show that the political allegiances of people posting on X have changed from approximately two-thirds Democrat and one-third Republican, to roughly half Democrat and half Republican. Given Musk's support of Trump, this is obviously a shift in the direction that Professor Singer indicates. But it also suggests that under Musk, X now reflects fairly accurately the political demographics of the US as a whole.
Whatever one's political allegiances, it must be better, from a consequentialist perspective, that a public social media platform provides an opportunity for its consumers to receive posts from a balanced collection of commentators, rather than being skewed in a particular political direction. This in turn suggests that individuals who lean towards the DNC should stay on X (rather than migrating to a more DNC-aligned platform) to maintain this balance.
I am writing from Istanbul. I was also thinking about quitting Twitter recently. In fact, people have created similar platforms, I was thinking about switching to one of them, when I learned about Bluesky from you. Elon Musk turned the app we get news from into a playground for himself. He also used Twitter, which thousands of people use to get news, to support Trump for his own personal interests. Forget everything else, its algorithm is so bad that it has become an app where we cannot access news. I just deleted my Twitter account and opened Blusky.
It is very interesting that when Turkish Airlines fired me from my job in 2019, they showed my political tweets as evidence. It has such a big damage in my personal life.
I’ve already established an account on BlueSky. It’s a more sensible atmosphere, more openness and discussion without the onslaught of hate and misinformation. Please come there.
Thanks for this message. But do we know that Bluesky won't use a different algorithm that is equally biased, but in the other direction? I do feel like I've seen a variety of opposing opinions on X, but I understand that whole point of clever algorithms is to create the impression that you are not being "algorithm-ized."
So far at least, it's a "choose your own algorithm" thing. You aren't forced to see a particular "for you" page. A bigger concern imo is that, due to a Twitter exodus, the user base is pretty homogenously left wing.
I think this entire position is completely misguided. If I take you at your word that everything you claim is true, I still feel it is misguided.
X's algorithm is easily tailorable to your own interests and needs. If you see content you don't like it's easy to right click and say you don't like it and the algorithm learns from that. Same with the accounts you follow - If you see a lot of content you don't like, then perhaps reconsider the users you are following or engaging with.
Rumours of X's manipulation of the algorithm have gone on for years - even prior to Elon's takeover. Why do you think Trump created his own social network or alternative options have existed? You didn't mind it then because the manipulation aligned to your world views. Suddenly you've had your world views challenged and realised it's not as rosey and liberal as you thought, so you're jumping ship to the walled garden of Bluesky that actively weeds out conservative thought. You have chosen to join an echo chamber rather than continuing to provide an alternative voice to the voices you're seeing on X. Humanity is doomed if it just congregates in echo chambers viewing the other side as the enemy.
The Animal Interfaith Alliance also closed its social media account with X (formerly Twitter).
The directors took the decision to close the account as they believed that remaining on this social media platform would leave AIA seriously conflicted. As an interfaith organisation which promotes social harmony, we could not operate on a platform that allows uncensored hate speech, particularly the recent speech that led to the riots in England, and especially when that speech is supported and amplified by the platform’s owner.
I opened a Twitter account long ago but never posted. People said Elon overpaid for Twitter, but I suspected what he was doing back then. He quelled Twitter's liberal voice platform and bought an election and influence. I won't click on any link that goes to X.
I followed you on Bluesky. I'm cautious of imposter and similar accounts. I followed the one that appears to be you, but noticed there is also another Peter Singer (with no dash in the name) who is also a professor (just FYI for everyone).
Thank you for having a presence here and on Bluesky! I appreciate you being an advocate for animals and ethics. Thank you for all the work you do.
I left after Elon Musk bought the platform. I don’t appreciate his business ethics, personal integrity or political interference. He can run his life, but I don’t want him running mine.
Left when Musk took over
With the greatest respect Peter, this seems directionally wrong.
If we compare political interference pre-Musk and post-Musk, there's no contest. Twitter's political interference was overtly political and forceful, i.e. it included direct censorship, banning people for many now uncontroversially truthful claims (e.g. Hunter Biden laptop, many claims during Covid, and even routinely banning people for reposting official government statistics which were politically inconvenient), as well as directly blocking the US President.
In contrast, the main complaints against Musk are precisely that he has *not* banned offensive speech (something which as a founder of JCI) you should respect as a dramatic improvement. The evidence that Musk has indirectly evinced political bias by boosting his own posts is inconclusive. In my view it's quite weak, but at least on post-Musk Twitter I can read both sides [pro https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1857734822799540684 anti https://x.com/cphoffmann/status/1858876947704471873] discussing the science openly, which would not have been allowed on old Twitter
I think there is, in fact, a contest. So-called 'free speech absolutist' Musk banned Ken Klippenstein for posting the dossier on JD Vance, cooperated with authoritarian governments to remove/suppress tweets, made "CIS" into an offensive term (no matter the context) leading to people having their tweets hidden (at the very least), removed labels from Russian/Chinese state-sponsored media accounts, and recently banned accounts criticizing him from the right.
Perhaps most worryingly, the tweets of Uighur activists and those critical of the CCP seem to be suppressed by the algorithm, while the number of Chinese bots seems to have skyrocketed (although this is anecdotal).
This is without going into his various lawsuits against advertisers and those who have made comments about him/his running of twitter than he doesn't like.
Tired of reading this line. I was on Twitter for a long time. The old twitter as far more balanced unless you think sharing space with Neo Nazis somehow makes a place more balanced. Problem is that Elon twitter is just drowning in right-wing trolling, porn and hate speech. If that looks like win for free speech to you I don't know what to say.
There is a misconception today that free speech is measured in how many offensive things you can say per minute. The idea of speaking truth to power is totally forgotten. That is the whole rational behind free speech. It is NOT for billionaires like Elon to scream that UK government should be overthrown. People like him always have a voice. It is for the common people. People crushed by people like him.
And bringing up COID19 is frankly laughable given that Elon routinely spread disinformation to his 200 million followers on COIVID19 and would not change tact despite being called out multiple times. Read Sam Harris on it: https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-elon
Twitter under Elon is just a propaganda outlet for the far-right. You are attacking Twitter for having done what was pretty normal moderation in all media at all times. Moderating is not to be a propaganda outlet.
"Elon twitter is just drowning in right-wing trolling, porn and hate speech"
None of these claims are evidenced. At the same time, I would note that BlueSky contains many open death threats against Elon staff (https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1886453186250125702) or Jesse Singal (https://www.thefp.com/p/jesse-singal-bluesky-has-a-death-threat-problem?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=dfnk&triedRedirect=true) which appear to be unmoderated.
"Elon routinely spread disinformation to his 200 million followers on COIVID19"
This is both a non sequitur (posting false claims on Twitter would not be an infringement of free speech) and not supported by your link (Harris discusses Elon being wrong in the early days of the pandemic- posting "The coronavirus panic is dumb" in 2020- not him "routinely spread[ing] disinformation... on COIVID19 (sic)".
I don't think old Twitter would have censored that. But you do seem to be right about the study, at least for the Republican boost idea. I'm more convinced by about the Elon boost, partly due to this: https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/15/elon-musk-changes-twitter-algorithm-super-bowl-slump-report?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17327027738270&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2023%2Ffeb%2F15%2Felon-musk-changes-twitter-algorithm-super-bowl-slump-report
After seeing substantial evidence of Russia’s finger on the scale on X, that was it for me. I don’t just mean Russian bot farms. I mean them being virtually welcomed by Musk. X became platform that was quite obviously being played like a fiddle to serve an agenda. That agenda is the agenda of a post-truth authoritarian wave of which Trump is a part.
I refuse to subscribe to a post-truth agenda that serves to make unethical conduct less noticeable by obfuscating fact and spreading lies.
Just because you disagree with the voices doesn't make them bots...
Honestly not sure if I’m getting baited here or you are serious?
I’m quite aware that mere disagreement doesn’t make some account a bot account. However, there remains substantial evidence of Russian bots influencing U.S. elections. That information is easily accessible and I encourage you to look.
Of course there will be some bots, but the suggestion that bots have somehow completely manipulated the election is a crazy conspiracy theory
About as crazy as rewriting Russian gaining influence to "completely manipulating the election". That is not the same thing. You are not engaging with CG in an honest fashion.
Your comment is unwanted and not interesting.
It wasn’t meant to be interesting, it was meant as criticism of your behavior.
So we should avoid commercial interactions with people who have pollical views that we disagree with? Must I quiz the barber on which candidates he supports before letting him cut my hair? Or, perhaps, I only need forsake those vendors who are open, public, and honest about their views - bread from the crypto-Nazi baker is a-OK!
If a baker had swastikas in their window I would avoid buying bread from them, yes
This isn’t just “people having political views we disagree with.” Twitter is now the propaganda arm for Trump. The question is whether you want to support that or not
What’s your proof of that? A study by academics hostile to him? Were you disconcerted that Twitter pre-Musk censored their political opponents, or is it only when your side appears to be threatened that you react?
Elon owns Twitter and works directly for Trump. The proof is in your face. You either don’t dislike Trump enough or are too addicted to twitter to give it up
So there’s no proof then? There’s plenty of proof for left-wing censorship, in articles written by journalists hostile to Trump.
Also, here:
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/17/24298669/musk-trump-endorsement-x-boosting-republican-posts-july-algorithm-change
The owner of twitter reports directly to Trump and controls how twitter works. The burden of proof is on you to show why twitter is not going to be biased towards Trump
I left as soon as Musk took over Twitter. I was pretty sure his ownership wouldn't be a positive change. I've been surprised that it has taken so many so long to decide to leave, too.
As is befitting of my substack handle, I disagree with most of the comments posted here. I think Professor Singer's justification for leaving X is inconsistent with the consequentialist philosophy he has defended for his long (and very distinguished) career. Whatever one might think of Musk and his politics, the important question is whether X is a better social media platform under his ownership than previously (where "better" is to be analysed using the utilitarian calculus).
Professor Singer's own analysis cites the "drastic" change to X that has occurred under Musk, such that it has "increasingly shifted toward serving his political agenda". This undoubtedly correct. Surveys show that the political allegiances of people posting on X have changed from approximately two-thirds Democrat and one-third Republican, to roughly half Democrat and half Republican. Given Musk's support of Trump, this is obviously a shift in the direction that Professor Singer indicates. But it also suggests that under Musk, X now reflects fairly accurately the political demographics of the US as a whole.
Whatever one's political allegiances, it must be better, from a consequentialist perspective, that a public social media platform provides an opportunity for its consumers to receive posts from a balanced collection of commentators, rather than being skewed in a particular political direction. This in turn suggests that individuals who lean towards the DNC should stay on X (rather than migrating to a more DNC-aligned platform) to maintain this balance.
I am writing from Istanbul. I was also thinking about quitting Twitter recently. In fact, people have created similar platforms, I was thinking about switching to one of them, when I learned about Bluesky from you. Elon Musk turned the app we get news from into a playground for himself. He also used Twitter, which thousands of people use to get news, to support Trump for his own personal interests. Forget everything else, its algorithm is so bad that it has become an app where we cannot access news. I just deleted my Twitter account and opened Blusky.
It is very interesting that when Turkish Airlines fired me from my job in 2019, they showed my political tweets as evidence. It has such a big damage in my personal life.
I’ve already established an account on BlueSky. It’s a more sensible atmosphere, more openness and discussion without the onslaught of hate and misinformation. Please come there.
Thanks for this message. But do we know that Bluesky won't use a different algorithm that is equally biased, but in the other direction? I do feel like I've seen a variety of opposing opinions on X, but I understand that whole point of clever algorithms is to create the impression that you are not being "algorithm-ized."
So far at least, it's a "choose your own algorithm" thing. You aren't forced to see a particular "for you" page. A bigger concern imo is that, due to a Twitter exodus, the user base is pretty homogenously left wing.
The people I've heard who have been on there confirm that as of right now, it's pretty much a left wing echo chamber.
Hi Peter
I have been considering leaving X for a while for similar reasons to yours. Your message has pushed me to act. I too am leaving X. Thank you. Mike
Left 2 years ago. Don’t miss one thing. 👍
I left last week. Best decision I’ve made in a while.
I think this entire position is completely misguided. If I take you at your word that everything you claim is true, I still feel it is misguided.
X's algorithm is easily tailorable to your own interests and needs. If you see content you don't like it's easy to right click and say you don't like it and the algorithm learns from that. Same with the accounts you follow - If you see a lot of content you don't like, then perhaps reconsider the users you are following or engaging with.
Rumours of X's manipulation of the algorithm have gone on for years - even prior to Elon's takeover. Why do you think Trump created his own social network or alternative options have existed? You didn't mind it then because the manipulation aligned to your world views. Suddenly you've had your world views challenged and realised it's not as rosey and liberal as you thought, so you're jumping ship to the walled garden of Bluesky that actively weeds out conservative thought. You have chosen to join an echo chamber rather than continuing to provide an alternative voice to the voices you're seeing on X. Humanity is doomed if it just congregates in echo chambers viewing the other side as the enemy.
The Animal Interfaith Alliance also closed its social media account with X (formerly Twitter).
The directors took the decision to close the account as they believed that remaining on this social media platform would leave AIA seriously conflicted. As an interfaith organisation which promotes social harmony, we could not operate on a platform that allows uncensored hate speech, particularly the recent speech that led to the riots in England, and especially when that speech is supported and amplified by the platform’s owner.
https://animal-interfaith-alliance.com/2024/09/03/exit-were-exiting-x/
I opened a Twitter account long ago but never posted. People said Elon overpaid for Twitter, but I suspected what he was doing back then. He quelled Twitter's liberal voice platform and bought an election and influence. I won't click on any link that goes to X.
I followed you on Bluesky. I'm cautious of imposter and similar accounts. I followed the one that appears to be you, but noticed there is also another Peter Singer (with no dash in the name) who is also a professor (just FYI for everyone).
Thank you for having a presence here and on Bluesky! I appreciate you being an advocate for animals and ethics. Thank you for all the work you do.
Good plan. Will you be on Bluesky?
I asked the same thing. Then I found his BlueSky account. Here it is: @peter-singer.bsky.social