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
Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest
Excerpt:
Musk, a self-proclaimed protector of free speech, said he acquired X to restore free speech on the platform.
The suspensions come after extensive demonstrations were sparked by the arrest earlier this week of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan's main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu was arrested just hours before he was nominated to be the presidential candidate for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
As someone once said: Disgusted, but not surprised.
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 22nd 2025 at 7:00:15 PM
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyI think part of the reason is that Bluesky is just too quiet as a social media site. It seems like that if you already have a massive following from Twitter, you're likely to thrive on Bluesky. But if you intend to grow from scratch, tough luck. There seems to be no algorithm to amplify posts, which is not good if you primarily do artworks.
Whereas Twitter at least seems to give me notifications from time to time from randoms. Though it has the opposite problem in that I get bot likes and replies instead of real people.
I do keep seeing creatives on Bluesky saying their posts get way more interaction there than on the site formerly known as Twitter despite lower follower counts, but I don’t know if there are other factors at play that cause that.
My musician pageSeems to me that people complaining about no/low engagement on Bsky are expecting others to just magically find them via Teh Al Gore Rhythm, despite Bsky very publicly not working that way. I have about 5000 followers due to starter packs and lists, I follow back about half, and only about 20 regularly interact with my posts (and vice versa).
Let's see what fresh fuckwittery the dolts can contrive to torment themselves with this time.Ironic: people complain about "The Algorithm" not working to their advantage, then complain about not having one.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Hollywood Reporter says more young people are interested in social media and content creators than movies and television.
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.People will watch what they want to watch.
Throughout history, people have always complained about what's popular. Popular books? They're whatever people find fun. Notice the popularity of James Patterson and his super short chapters.
Popular television? TV was once called "the boob tube." The idea being that stupid people watched it, and what was on it was stupid.
Same thing now.
The most popular scripted thing in existence seems to be a war between singing toilets and humanoids with electronic devices for heads.

This has to be the most 2025 headline ever:
People Are Using AI to Create Influencers With Down Syndrome Who Sell Nudes
OK. So. Shitheads are taking people's nudes, using "AI" to make them look like they have Down's Syndrome, and using those to populate fake accounts on sites like Fanvue and Fansly (but not OnlyFans, which has better content moderation]]. Said shitheads are then posting the more SFW pics on Instagram to funnel people toward the subscriptions.
Ukrainian Red Cross