Rob Fahrni

Follow @fahrni on Micro.blog.

The Musk Files - Down the Rabbit Hole

The latest bad press for Space Karen and his mismanagement of Twitter.

To think Reddit CEO Steve Huffman thinks Musk has done a great job running Twitter with less is shocking.

I’m not sure how anyone labels this guy a genius. He’s a huckster, racist, masochist, and anti-Semite among other things.

If you still believe in him dig deep and ask why you believe that. The answer should scare you or at least make you think about your values as a human being.

Enjoy the links.

Daring Fireball

There are some moments in this video interview that are just cringe-inducing. Even just the awkward pauses. (Faber, to my mind, did a hell of a job — Musk is obviously a very difficult person to interview.) I’m starting to get real Bobby Fischer vibes from Musk — a genius, yes, but descending into conspirational hateful madness. But Fischer became a recluse; Musk is one of the most prominent people in the world.

Vox

In the past five days, Musk has doubled down on a conspiracy theory about the Allen, Texas, shooter; tweeted that billionaire philanthropist George Soros (who has long been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories online) wants to “erode the very fabric of civilization” and “hates humanity;” and promoted a quickly debunked rumor that falsely claimed Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz was related to the founder of the Internet Archive.

The Atlantic

Twitter has long been described, even by its most ardent users, as a hellsite. But under Elon Musk, Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network.

France 24

Researchers have documented an explosion of hate and misinformation on Twitter since the Tesla billionaire took over in October 2022 – and now experts say communicating about climate science on the social network on which many of them rely is getting harder.

Platformer

Their high-profile event on Twitter Spaces, where DeSantis had just announced his run for president, had been plagued by technical glitches. The first audio livestream cut out before DeSantis could get his news out.

Daily Kos

Billionaire conspiracy promoter Elon Musk spent $44 billion on Twitter to implement his special brand of “free speech,” essentially bringing back all the Nazis, conspiracy theorists, and all-around deplorables that were once moderated out of the platform, relegated to darker corners of the internet.

The Daily Beast

Twitter is failing to remove 99 percent of hate speech posted by Twitter Blue users, new research has found, and instead may be boosting paid accounts that spew racism and homophobia.

Ben & Jerry’s

We’ve watched with great concern the developments at Twitter following Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform. Hate speech is up dramatically while content moderation has become all but non-existent. In addition to the changes on the platform that have led to an increase in hate speech, Musk himself has doubled down on dangerous anti-democratic lies and white nationalist hate speech. The platform has become a threatening and even dangerous space for people from so many backgrounds, including people who are Black, Brown, trans, gay, women, people with disabilities, Jewish, Muslim and the list goes on. This is unconscionable in addition to being plain bad business.

Erin Reed

As Pride Month began, Elon Musk stated his intention to lobby for the criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors - a move that is unequivocally harmful and contradicts all major medical organizations in the United States and standards of care.

Ars Technica

Twitter’s US advertising revenue plunged 59 percent year-over-year during a recent five-week period, The New York Times reported today. The firm’s US ad “revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59 percent from a year earlier, according to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times.”

The Business Journals

Judge orders sheriff to evict Twitter from Boulder office