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
Keeping this for future reference.
Google search can generally still get reddit results which you can feed into wayback machine to see old posts. Obviously there won't be any new posts for now but you can still see some of the history that way.
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It's as @ Pushover Media Critic says, Reddit as the site is down.
No, seriously. You try to access it and the site gives you an error page.
This is the first time that I see a social media page outright blackout though, I guess the people in charge are pretty thin-skinned.
Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, we should find the absolutes that tie us.![]()
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That’s…interesting. Guess it is possible to go “two can play at this game” when it comes to a social media strike.
Curious question: what could be a possible compromise between the owners and the users on the subject of third-party apps?
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.![]()
Assuming it was actually the devs shutting the site down. I've seen Reddit go down like this before, it happens. Plus it's back up...edit: or was when I made the post anyway.
I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if they tried something like that. It'd be stupid, but so is this whole API plan.
Edited by Cris_Meyers on Jun 12th 2023 at 11:02:56 AM
Not a server engineer, so actual question: wouldn't reducing the load on the server make it run better? How would everyone suddenly leaving cause it to crash? I've only heard of that happening when the load is suddenly increased.
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.According to the Verge
and other tech sites, a spokesperson said so many subreddits going private caused stability issues.
Edited by Vehek on Jun 12th 2023 at 10:05:51 AM
@Red An internal outage at the same time when multiple subreddits have chosen to go on strike, that’s a bit of context that makes it seem more then just another electronic fubar.
What about “spiteful coercion”, stabbing the nose to force the rest of the body to comply? Big companies aren’t exactly unbiased machines that only take the easiest, long-sighted options. And that’s making it sound like it would be a very big blow, which I think is dependent on the company/business itself. Who actually owns or runs Reddit?
Edited by fredhot16 on Jun 12th 2023 at 10:07:58 AM
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.@ Redmess
It bears to remember that this blackout is happening at the same time that a coordinated protest blackout between subreddit communities was set to happen, this is a typical smokescreen tactic to hide dissenting voices by not letting them be heard at all, or in this case, by not letting their silence be noticed.
Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, we should find the absolutes that tie us.So I'm seeing news that Twitter is trying to make it so that only Twitter Blue people can send people DMs unprompted, and everyone else must be following each other to exchange them
.
Oh this is going to be a nightmare for artists as well as anyone who doesn't want to be harassed by bigoted assholes. Especially if the plan to prevent users from being able to block other people goes through.
How long is the blackout supposed to be going on? As inspiring as it is that millions of users are doing so, are they prepared to be in it for the long haul? That's kind of the point of a strike, you don't stop until either your demands are met or you're fired/kicked out/beaten into submission, exposing the higher-ups for the tyrants they are. A strike that only lasts for one day is barely a strike at all, because the higher-ups can just wait it out.
And furthermore, if the higher-ups don't cave, are these millions of users prepared to abandon Reddit altogether? Reddit's a big site but it's still second-tier compared to the likes of Twitter, I'm certain that a permanent loss of that many users would kill it practically overnight.
This is why I kinda wish Twitter would do a mass walkout as well, since it's blatantly obvious at this point that Musk wants to create a bigot's playground at the expense of normal non-bigoted people and the advertisers who actually bring in the money. But I kinda get the feeling everyone who does give a shit about that already has left, or is making plans to, so there's not enough people left for a walkout. :V
Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Jun 12th 2023 at 6:36:40 PM
Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!As someone with limited knowledge of Reddit (I used some subreddits, so I know the place, but I do not have an account there.) what is the point of a Reddit app ? What advantages do they offer compared to just access the site from browser ?
Better integration with an actual smartphone environment. Not just scaling and layout, but controls, navigation, organisation of features etc.

And Reddit is down.