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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Are you not interested in reading why people might choose to stay on X?
I never had an X or Twitter account, but I recently created a Bluesky account so it looks like Bluesky is growing. We'll see whether I will regularly use it in the future.
I unsubscribed from Twitter 2 years ago due to news about how Elon Musk, Twitter's new dictator, is using it to promote disinformation and unleash racism (generally acting like the infamous Mr T):
Elon Musk, right-wing figures push misinformation about Pelosi attack
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.
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.
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!
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.
Left 2 years ago. Don’t miss one thing. 👍
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/
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
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
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 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 recently left X and joined Bluesky. I’m very pleased with my choice and yours!
Why not Mastodon? Why are you enslaved to proprietary platforms?
I stopped using what I still wistfully insisted on calling twitter early this year. Why? Elon Musk.
Are you not interested in reading why people might choose to stay on X?
I never had an X or Twitter account, but I recently created a Bluesky account so it looks like Bluesky is growing. We'll see whether I will regularly use it in the future.
I unsubscribed from Twitter 2 years ago due to news about how Elon Musk, Twitter's new dictator, is using it to promote disinformation and unleash racism (generally acting like the infamous Mr T):
Elon Musk, right-wing figures push misinformation about Pelosi attack
The Washington Post
Oct 30, 2022
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/30/paul-pelosi-attack-misinformation-elon-musk/