By "social media" we mean any large computer network that allows people to interact in shared communities. The big ones of course are Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram, but we can't forget newer platforms like Discord and Slack.
Dedicated video sites are off-topic here and YouTube has its own separate thread
.
What we should discuss in this OTC topic are news items, business operations, and activities by the networks themselves, not specific things posted by users. Those should go into threads appropriate to the subjects of those posts. For example, if an actor tweets about a film, we'd discuss that in the Media forum topic for the film, not here. If Facebook changes its policies, that could be discussed here.
The politics, motives, competency and wider business activities of the owners and leaders of social media companies (e.g. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg) are also off-topic — except in situations where they are directly making specific policy for the platform.
Talking about a particular Instagram policy change (or a high-profile ban on a specific user) directly announced by Mark Zuckerberg would be acceptable in this thread, speculating about Zuckerberg's wider motivations wouldn't be.
One exception is Truth Social, due to its connection to Donald Trump. As there is a forum ban on US Politics, all discussion of Truth Social is off-topic and posts about the platform may be thumped.
The thread's also not about "dumb thing [public figure] said on [social media platform]". If there isn't a specific thread related to the subject of the statement, then it's probably gossip and not worth talking about.
The hot topic of the day is Elon Musk's bid to acquire Twitter. We first discussed it in the Computer Thread, starting roughly here
, and I am not going to rehash the entire discussion. Instead, I am going to resume from the last post
:
CNBC: Twitter is reportedly taking another look at Musk takeover bid
Twitter's board is reportedly meeting with Elon Musk and may seek to negotiate on his buyout offer. Musk claims to have secured $46 billion in funding to buy the company at a valuation of $43 billion and is preparing to make a tender offer to its shareholders.
While the board has passed a poison pill, it could be facing resistance to that from groups of shareholders and will want to talk things out rather than face a hostile takeover. It's also possible that Twitter's stock could crash if the offer fails to go through.
Another possible topic was originally posted here
.
Ars Technica: EU to unveil landmark law to force Big Tech to police illegal content
Following on from the recently passed Digital Markets Act, which requires large tech companies to unbundle first-party software from hardware platforms, the proposed Digital Services Act will require medium and large social media platforms and search engines to police hate speech and disinformation while adding additional protections for children against targeted marketing.
It also bans "dark patterns", which manipulate or trick people into clicking on ads or other content. The article doesn't explicitly say what that means, but I assume it includes things like disguising ads to look like parts of a site's user interface, hiding "close" buttons, and such.
For large companies, the requirements would go into effect immediately. For medium companies, they would have a grace period to implement the changes.
Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, has warned that Big Tech has become “too big to care.”
This phrase, "too big to care", intrigues me. It's an indictment of the idea that these companies have decided that growth and engagement metrics overwhelm any sense of social responsibility.
In my opinion, a law like this would be impossible in the United States, since it would be challenged (likely successfully) on First Amendment grounds.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 8th 2024 at 5:16:31 PM
Honestly, if Twitter goes I'm most curious about what'll happen to JK Rowling. Figures like Trump or Musk at least have actual influence and shit to do outside Twitter, Rowling is just a professional Twitter whiner (I know she donates money to shitty things as well, but that's nothing out-of-the-ordinary for a celebrity).
Rowling could retire for a million years in the lap of luxury off of her Harry Potter royalties, I'm sure she'll be fine.
Aaaand from a coprate standpoint this is probaly the worst thing to happen to them since Elon bought the site.
If there is any technicians left I feel bad for those poor fuckers, there about to get a nuclear alert call at 2am and have to drop every thing and imediatly come in.
Betcha it was tied to one of those microservices and it just took people this long to notice.
Edited by Imca on Nov 19th 2022 at 11:17:12 AM
I wonder if anyone will try to create a Twitter substitute should it go under (I don’t know much about Mastodon, but I don’t think it’s quite what I’m thinking of).
Hopefully it would actually be much more successful in policing disinformation and hate speech.
And as long as I’m dreaming, I’d like Trump to never be allowed on social media, ever.
Oh God! Natural light!You mean like Parler, Gab, and Truth Social? There are plenty of Twitter substitutes, but they all seem to be even worse than the birdsite.
Mastodon tends to be described as an alternative as opposed to a substitute. That seems accurate.
Ukrainian Red CrossWow, yeah, that home page is... something.
For artists seeking a general audience who are just casually looking around the internet, I suspect that Reddit might become their home. It’s got a front page mentality that enables discoverability, it’s got moderation, it can host NSFW art if desired, and it’s stable because a chunk of the money it makes is not from user data sales but the badges/coins system that users purchase.
Edited by Silasw on Nov 20th 2022 at 1:48:48 PM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI've noticed that there is also a desire by some people for sites that not just allow NSFW but allow it without much in the way of content restrictions. Pixiv is apparently becoming more restrictive in what they allow to appease credit card companies, and a lot of other sites and Mastodon instances seem to disallow unorthodox content.

Honestly, if Twitter goes I'm most curious about what'll happen to JK Rowling. Figures like Trump or Musk at least have actual influence and shit to do outside Twitter, Rowling is just a professional Twitter whiner (I know she donates money to shitty things as well, but that's nothing out-of-the-ordinary for a celebrity). In fact, pretty sure there's a whole class of public figures that do nothing but whine on Twitter (Notch, to cite another example - dunno if he's been banned yet).
Damnit, I don't like getting page toppers, it puts me on the spot. :V
Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Nov 19th 2022 at 4:05:43 PM
Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!