Thank you for your response Sarah. I love your suggestion of a statement. I definitely think we need to do something collectively that is more than just slink off, in the circumstances, at least a public statement. I do value the melting pot that Twitter is, with all its problems, I don’t want to be in a silo without people I disagree with. But that social media experience still needs to be a safe and fair experience that enables everyone to participate. Emma On Fri, 16 Dec 2022 at 09:31, Sarah Ann Oates via Air-L < air-l@listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
Hi,
I wouldn't over-analyze Musk, he seems purely reactive and playing whack-a-mole with Twitter rules and users.
To return to Emma's question, I think we need a plan or even a strategy as AoIRists. I think this is the smartest (and almost always most cordial) place for people to discuss key issues like this. A David to Musk's Goliath of Twitter, but not without power.
So what do we do? Do we quietly quit? Do we more proactively set up or join an existing platform (Mastodon is great in many ways, but it's not the same)? Do we make some sort of statement about how this shows a need for a fundamentally different approach to regulating internet platforms?
At the core of this is what we expect from social media. Despite a somewhat chirpy exterior, I'm old-fashioned and grumpy. I never get/got much from Twitter -- I get a lot more from this list. Yes, Twitter could connect me and expose me to new things and people -- as well as show me breaking news and information in a new way -- but think of all the vile experiences and comments we've had (particularly as women) on Twitter. Was it worth it? Looking back, it was never really a public commons. When good things happened due to Twitter (BLM etc.) it was more a bug than a feature in some ways.
How do we, as scholars and humans, leverage the affordances of existing online technology, not only to support our academic endeavors but (if I read most of this group correctly) to advance the values of humanity and technology in a positive direction?
OK, that's a lot and many of us are grading. But Emma's question of "what to do" is really the question we need to answer ...
Sarah
Sarah Oates Pronoun: she/her
Professor and Senior Scholar Philip Merrill College of Journalism Distinguished Scholar-Teacher University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Email: soates@umd.edu Phone: 301 455 2332 www.media-politics.com Twitter: @media_politics
On Fri, Dec 16, 2022 at 9:10 AM Vivian Gerrand via Air-L < air-l@listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
This is chilling, Rob.
Also interesting that he would bother. An indication of how much Musk feels threatened by the migration of Twitter users to Mastodon? Or (more likely) simply staking his claim as a warrior in a culture war?
Thanks for sharing.
Vivian
-----Original Message----- From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> On Behalf Of Robert W Gehl via Air-L Sent: Saturday, 17 December 2022 12:30 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] Twitter Journalist Suspensions
In addition to the 11 journalists being booted from Twitter, a related development: Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon and other fediverse sites. This morning, I attempted to post a link to my Mastodon profile (
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.so... ).
It was blocked due to it being "harmful content."
In addition, Twitter has suspended @joinmastodon, the main Mastodon developers' account.
Perhaps this is an old fashioned capitalist attempt to crush the competition?
Or maybe not. As a test, I tried posting a link to the far-right site Gab.com, a social media site which harbors self-identified Nazis and was the social media of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. Gab styles itself as a free speech absolutist alternative to Twitter.
The Gab.com link was allowed.
- Rob
On 2022-12-15 22:47, Dr. Emma Briant via Air-L wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
I'm sure all will agree that the mass censorship of, I think now 11 journalists from major news organisations today by Elon Musk is incredibly disturbing. I am wondering how one deletes all one's tweets? Anyone know? I'm considering doing this but leaving my account as a placeholder, so I am not leaving that data there, and removing myself at this point from the platform. I was hoping not to do this, given that I network in Twitter for my research on propaganda and develop contacts. But this obviously crosses such a line. People need to push back somehow not just move to mastodon , but I'm honestly not sure how. I'm trying to process the implications and wondered other's thoughts on this latest development.
Thanks, Emma
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-- Dr Emma L Briant Owner: Maven of Persuasion LLC Fellow at Central European University's Center for Media, Data and Society Associate at University of Cambridge, Center for Financial Reporting & Accountability Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emmalbriant Website: www.emma-briant.co.uk Author of: *Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism: Strategies for Global Change *from Manchester University Press Co-Author of: *Bad News for Refugees* with Prof. Greg Philo and Dr. Pauline Donald from Pluto Press. Sign up for my Newsletter <http://emma-briant.co.uk/sign-up-for-important-updates/>! Follow me on Twitter @emmalbriant "I thought yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life but it turns out today is." - Steve Martin