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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.


     Thread OP 
So, I was looking for a dedicated social media thread and apparently there was this one created back in 2020 that we never opened. Unfortunately, it's a little stale, so bumping it isn't going to work very well, but I would like to restart it. The reason I'm doing so is that the Computer Thread seems to have become the de facto place for this sort of talk, and it's a big tonal clash with talking about computer tech.

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

fredhot16 Don't want to leave but cannot pretend from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt
Don't want to leave but cannot pretend
#9626: Apr 30th 2023 at 9:49:52 AM

[up]Plenty of porn has been made on that premise alone! “I’m sorry, pizza boy, I don’t have enough money to cover the cost. But I do have something else to offer, if you don’t mind coming into my room…”

Edit: OH MY GOD

This is one of the best and worst pagetoppers I’ve ever gotten.

Edited by fredhot16 on Apr 30th 2023 at 9:52:39 AM

Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#9627: Apr 30th 2023 at 10:24:25 AM

Bruh. [lol]

Also, I wish I never learned about Only Fans and just want to put a bullet in my brain now.

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Calendar enthusiast
#9628: Apr 30th 2023 at 10:25:17 AM

Paypal does the same thing and, again, there's zero indication that the number of people who will boycott over that association (or even care) is at all substantial.

Well joke's on them! I've used PayPal to pay for porn.

[up]The only porn I've ever seen that actually uses that premise was clearly doing it as a sort of Ascended Meme.


Meanwhile in social media, Snapchat has added an AI chatbot. This is pinned to the top of users' chat feeds and can only be removed with a paid premium account. This has raised concerns over child safety.

Edited by VampireBuddha on Apr 30th 2023 at 9:39:12 AM

Ukrainian Red Cross
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#9629: Apr 30th 2023 at 10:52:11 AM

Fred hot indeed... grin

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#9630: Apr 30th 2023 at 11:45:00 AM

Most people who are against porn are against it for the same reason as most of the people who are against marijuana: it's a cheap and easy way to appear righteous.

By the way, this works out for the porn industry too—since being "taboo" is part of the marketing, being shunned by big mainstream advertisers is a feature, not a bug.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#9631: Apr 30th 2023 at 1:05:49 PM

The thing that makes this really annoying is that there's zero indication that Onlyfans is actually hurting for cash. It's actually ended up doing a lot to break a lot of the really toxic stuff in that particular industry because it transferred a lot of the power to the actual people instead of concentrating it in the hands of producers, and it's a profitable business model, but the Onlyfans owners are like "hmm...maybe our profitable service is just not infinitely profitable? And that's a bad thing?"

Yeah, that's pretty much a general problem where people aren't happy with making a lot of money simply because they're not making all the money.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
Shaoken (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
#9632: Apr 30th 2023 at 5:20:26 PM

The biggest problem with capatilism today. The sheer number of companies across all industries who are making a healthy amount of money but always want to make more. We see time and time again that perpetual growth is not sustainable as there will come a point where you have gotten as much of the market share as you possibly can, but they push on with terrible ideas to try and get more money only to drive away their existing market share in the process.

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#9633: Apr 30th 2023 at 5:38:33 PM

[up] If one year you made 100% of all the money available in an economic system, capitalism would still demand you make 103% the next year. Failing to produce greater profit is antithetical to capitalism.

Anyway, Zendervai already said this, but Onlyfans is a fine site concept. It's good to give the power back to the actual models and performers involved in the sex industry. It's just that the site runners are once again attempting to take that power back away.

It's been fun.
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#9634: Apr 30th 2023 at 7:50:18 PM

[up], [up][up]

Or to put it in other words: Modern capitalism expects companies to work the same way cancer does.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Apr 30th 2023 at 4:50:46 PM

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#9635: Apr 30th 2023 at 8:11:10 PM

Well, I mean, right now Onlyfans is a private company and they're not expected to grow like cancer if they don't want to. So they could absolutely keep their company and business model as it was (though I have heard rumors that the company behind VISA and Mastercard was threatening the owners personally, because they don't want to be used to pay for porn, they're only rumors at this point).

All they'd have to do is...not make as much money as they could if they financialized. And if you expect that someone will make a personal sacrifice out of the goodness of their heart, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#9636: Apr 30th 2023 at 8:24:56 PM

[up]

Didn't know running a sustainable business now falls under "making a personal sacrifice". tongue

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
fredhot16 Don't want to leave but cannot pretend from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt
Don't want to leave but cannot pretend
#9637: Apr 30th 2023 at 8:40:43 PM

[up][up]Is it really a "personal sacrifice" to have grounded ambitions and goals?

Honestly, of all the criticisms I heard against capitalism, this might be one of the best ones: it's considered a "personal sacrifice" to not pull every measure to scrounge up every bit of money you can squeeze out of a business without any consideration for long-term goals or even factors that would help your business survive longer that are not strictly based in monetary gain.

Constant growth, even if it requires cannibalizing yourself. Always have more to eat on the table, even if you have to cut off your own legs and leave yourself unable to get food consistently the day after. Jump as high as you can, even if it means breaking your legs so you could never jump again, much less improve your body to jump higher then that very point.

It's one of the weirdest ideologies in modern society.

Edited by fredhot16 on Apr 30th 2023 at 8:46:28 AM

Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.
Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#9638: Apr 30th 2023 at 8:56:41 PM

It also created the modern day dragons; always having a huge hoard of wealth, always wanting more for the sake of having more.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#9639: Apr 30th 2023 at 10:08:52 PM

And it’s part of the reason Mastodon is designed to basically be impossible to monetize Musk/Twitter style across the board, IIRC. Even if someone wanted to do that, it’s not really an option.

And I have to be honest, if someone has a choice between being reasonably wealthy and then destroys their own business model to be offensively wealthy and ruins the lives of a lot of other people in the process? Of fucking course I will judge the shit out of the latter category. It’s the best indicator that the people who made that choice didn’t actually care about their product or audience at all. And why should I lionize people who don’t even care enough about their own product to keep it working?

Edited by Zendervai on Apr 30th 2023 at 1:10:53 PM

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#9640: May 1st 2023 at 1:55:02 AM

[up][up][up][up] Welcome to Earth, enjoy your stay. grin More seriously, a "sustainable business" is not as valuable as cashing out and doing something else with the money.

[up][up][up] You're not compelled to, that's the point. You choose to because you want to make more money. To not do so, you have to decide that some things are worth more than money. It's not really weird at all; it's the way people are.

[up]Judge all you want, of course.

The common thread here is that expecting (emphasis intentional) other people to adhere to your morality is kind of pointless. If they don't agree with you, then they won't change their actions just because you ask. Instead, we should learn what should be done given that markets are a thing (yes, I'm making a distinction between capitalism and markets; in this case, what we're dealing with is a financial market rather than issues of capital ownership) - in my book, I'd work on making internet access a public utility and (on the chance that the VISA thing is actually true) more government involvement in the financial sector (as cash is increasingly on its way out, we need to make check cards a right).

Greed is far older than capitalism. I think it's been a thing ever since the first caveman wanted a bigger haunch of dinosaur meat than his fellow hunters.

Edited by Ramidel on May 1st 2023 at 12:58:30 AM

Perseus Since: Nov, 2009
#9641: May 1st 2023 at 4:51:36 AM

I don't see why you feel compelled to give a whole-ass lecture on why judging people is pointless. Does it have to have a point? I think we're allowed to say things without them necessarily being """productive""".

And "greed predates capitalism" is a vacuous, meaningless statement. It doesn't have to be invented wholesale by the system to be actively encouraged by it.

That said, this has fuck-all to do with social media anymore and there's a thread for economics.

Edited by Perseus on May 1st 2023 at 9:58:29 PM

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#9642: May 1st 2023 at 5:00:43 AM

Agreed, lets move on.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#9643: May 1st 2023 at 9:10:02 AM

Also, this is 2 weeks old, but I don't think we've discussed it yet, Twitter removes guidelines against deadnaming

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-transgender-deadnaming-policy-change/

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
fredhot16 Don't want to leave but cannot pretend from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt
Don't want to leave but cannot pretend
#9644: May 1st 2023 at 9:24:22 AM

[up]No, I think we did mention it here before. Perseus made a comment on it, I believe?

Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#9645: May 1st 2023 at 9:47:11 AM

I think so, yeah. There's so much bad news coming out of there it's a bit hard to keep track.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
diddyknux (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#9646: May 1st 2023 at 11:09:32 AM

Frustrating and dickish, but not exactly a surprise from the clown running the place.

VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Calendar enthusiast
#9647: May 1st 2023 at 11:53:35 AM

Mastodon is changing up. The default signup option will point to mastodon.social rather than dropping new users into a list of instances. This has proven controversial with existing users, who see it as running counter to the idea of decentralisation.

Also, quote toots, full text search, and groups are in the pipeline. Quote toots and groups are already possible in other Fediverse services and work well, so this is just Mastodon catching up. But still, it's a positive development.

Ukrainian Red Cross
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#9648: May 1st 2023 at 12:26:45 PM

It's kind of inevitable for a growing service, I think.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
MisoraMiyazaki Ace of Space! from Tallon IV Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Ace of Space!
#9649: May 1st 2023 at 12:36:13 PM

This could just be my browser, but Twitter being Twitter... Anyone else having trouble staying logged in? Or logging back in? I just got logged out and every time I try to log back in it just brings me to the login page. I've seen a few people complaining about this on some Discord servers I'm on, but it hadn't happened to me until now.

/crawls back under rock
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#9650: May 1st 2023 at 12:40:01 PM

I got logged out and then it logged me back in under my second account. Darn it, I don't remember what my other account's password was.


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