Since Elon took over, Twitter has become an increasingly depressing place, from patronizing trolling to unmoderated conspiracy rhetoric. Yes, these have always been a part of Twitter, so why does it feel different now?
First and foremost, these problems used to be seen as bugs to solve. How do we reduce misinformation? How do we make the Twitterverse less toxic? How do we encourage constructive debate? These are no longer seen as bugs to solve, but as features to amplify.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what Twitter’s goals are now. Elon makes it seem like free speech is the ultimate goal, but we are now seeing account suspensions without any obvious violations of Twitter’s terms of service. Elon will then make up a new policy to justify the suspensions. For example, Elon mass-banned accounts for doxxing, then he clarified his new rule:
Pair that with the restoration of accounts that were notorious for harassment and spreading dangerous lies, like former President Donald Trump. Note the date of the below tweets.
Or consider the restoration of Jordan Peterson’s account after he got suspended for incessantly harassing pretty much every progressive community (e.g., the LGBTQ community, climate change activists, the body positivity movement).
Elon also led us to believe that Twitter’s policies would now be decided by its users (poll),
but he is already scaling that back.
Take a final example: the restoration of Kanye West’s Twitter account. Elon celebrated this decision as a bold stance for freedom of speech, only to take it back a few days later after Kanye tweeted out a swastika over the Star of David.
None of this is to show support or condemnation for Twitter’s previous decisions, nor Elon’s decisions since he took over. I am merely pointing out the inconsistency. It is clear that Elon is just guessing as he goes along and pretending like each decision was premeditated. Twitter seems to be moderated more by Elon’s preferences than clear policy.
Instigation minus the outrage
Twitter has also become hopelessly predictable. You can reliably guess what you will see when you log on: endless quote tweets about Elon saying something offensive or conspiratorial. It used to be that before logging on, you didn’t know what you were going to be outraged about.
Now you know exactly what you will see, and you can only get angry at culture war content so many times before you lose all faith in humanity and retreat to your offline life. Many people use Twitter to keep up with and react to the news. When the news doesn’t change, we turn it off.
Part of Twitter’s appeal is the collisions between separate infospheres, and the outrage we share within our own. It can be fun to practice your debate skills and laugh at those who continually get things wrong. It signals your allegiance and helps to build friendships online. But there is a fine line between triggering people with hot takes and intentionally taunting others.
Consider what is likely to pull people in. Twitter users find politically charged tweets and morally outrageous content particularly alluring. This is because we like to add to the pile on, set the record straight, and contribute to the conversation.
Musk’s tweet above seems to check these boxes, but it misses the mark in an important way. Tweeting “My pronouns are prosecute/Fauci,” is purely divisive, and obviously so. After either liking it or reporting it, there isn’t much left to do. There is nothing to push back against. The intention behind the tweet is too conspicuous. Elon wasn’t looking for a debate here, he just wanted to signal his allegiance with the right and piss people off.
Cross the line between triggering and taunting, and a tweet can sound like na-na na-na boo-boo. This might work with your younger sibling, but most adults know when you are yanking their chain. In other words, Twitter has become less adult because its owner is a large toddler fronting as a public intellectual.
Twitter is depressing
I honestly didn’t pay much attention to Elon before he expressed interest in buying Twitter. I thought of him mainly as the richest man in the world, or the awkward Tesla guy. I long knew he was a Trump-like troll, but I was genuinely saddened to see him wandering through conspiracyland.
He seems to think that he is an Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) figure, but he behaves like the IDW’s younger brother who just wants to play along. And the IDW is encouraging it by giving Elon a controller with no batteries.
With the owner of Twitter sharing conspiracy content, his followers feel more emboldened to do the same, which is turning Twitter into a nihilistic shit-show. I recognize that this could be a problem only present within certain infospheres. I also recognize that these problems have always existed, and they are just more noticeable now.
Make twitter tolerable again
The good news is that Elon has resigned as the head of Twitter, so we will see who takes the job on next. AI researcher and podcaster Lex Fridman seemed excited about the opportunity, and I don’t think I’d mind him taking over (even though he blocked me for some reason). Fridman might come across as naïve and overly sentimental, but at least he is apolitical and ideologically open for the most part. I haven’t yet seen him endorse any of the extreme opinions that some of the guests on his show do.
I will probably still use Twitter, but I imagine I will be using it differently. Part of the problem is that it feels like a chore to find a new way to use it. Maybe the first step is to mute Elon’s name, at least temporarily. But I’m afraid that will just open a black hole.
Elon has become too relevant to ignore. If he passes some ridiculous policy on Twitter, I want to hear about it. It might be better to mute key phrases that are associated with culture-war shit-posting. Other than that, I might just use it to share my work and the articles that I’ve been reading, engage with the friends that I’ve made on Twitter, like wholesome memes, and post food pics. Not much harm in that, I think.
Twitter: @ryanbruno7287
Mastodon: @ryanbruno@mstdn.social