Bonum Certa Men Certa

2023 Should be the Year You've Lived Without Social Control Media (Any of It!)

Video download link | md5sum dee2cd6893c97f1cd360788441b92ca6 2022 and the Social Control Media Tumble Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Social Control Media (or social control networks) is a failed experiment which left society worse off; it's time to press "eject"

THE FOSS-centric blogosphere has lot to say about Mastodon; some rightly bring up caveats and misconceptions about Mastodon.



I myself left Mastodon (and Pleroma) almost 2 years ago, having lost several accounts. All the instances in which I had an account no longer exist and having researched what it takes to run one (technically, not even factoring in the moderation tasks) I decided to never ever get involved in Mastodon... ever again. People invited me and I politely declined.

Almost a year ago I quit the remainder of Social Control Media, having come to the conclusion it was dying anyway and was rapidly becoming a waste of time/effort.

Looking back, not only was this decision correct; it was years overdue, i.e. I wish I had done this years earlier!

"Many politicians rely almost entirely on Facebook and Twitter for public presence/visibility."Facebook lost about 80% of its "market value" in just one year and Twitter is collapsing at an alarming rate (the latest report we saw is entitled "Musk warns of Twitter bankruptcy as more senior executives quit"). This is not a joke; this will have profound impact on many people, companies, and countries. Many politicians rely almost entirely on Facebook and Twitter for public presence/visibility.

There aren't just concerns about whether those platforms go offline, partly or fully. There are legitimate, well-founded (with a growing body of evidence already) concerns associated with ownership. Do "Democrats" (politicians on the "corporate left" in the US) realise that if they still "tweet" they do so while 'bossed' by a Republican called Elon Musk? Musk may brand himself "libertarian" or whatever, but days ago he alienated millions of Twitter users by unmasking himself as a booster of the violence party, a supporter of political militancy; he is also a cheerleader of "regime change" abroad (for natural resources of other countries; he wants to destroy other countries for Tesla batteries).

Do people want a 'boss' like this? He wants them not only to work for him 'for free'... he wants to charge them a hefty monthly fee during economic crises. He can ban and hide "tweets" or users (at arbitrary whims)... some users report that this is already happening. We'll see more and more of that (see Daily Links).

"Mr. Musk says he wants to authenticate all users. Well, that would eliminate many dissident accounts overnight."Regarding Facebook, an associate has said that it doesn't need so many people anymore now that the election has been tripped up properly. "Also," he said, "people realize that although addicted social control media is a waste of time."

We spoke about other long-term harms of social control media participation. People classify themselves for discrimination/punishment at the hands of future tyrants by enabling creation of "lists". "Many countries have laws prohibiting making such lists especially when they encompass politics or ethnicity or religion," the associate said. "Facebook does this explicitly as well as being able to generate more fine-tuned lists by aggregating several of the data points they collect on people. They not only do they have those lists as explicit data points but also can generate them and worse on the fly."

Facebook already has some "real name" policies; is Twitter next to become as dangerous as Facebook? Mr. Musk says he wants to authenticate all users. Well, that would eliminate many dissident accounts overnight.

"Musk neither knows what he is doing nor cares," our associate noted. "It is a mystery how he or his sponsors are going to recover $44bn from what's left of Twitter. Maybe throw a few more elections over time. Like they've helped do so far. Eliminating 'dissident' accounts would be a happy side effect for his sponsors. They have an active history in suppressing dissidents, with or without the use of tandoori ovens."

"Some people openly say that they're quitting Twitter and going (back) to blogging."For those who've missed it, a lot of the money for Musk's takeover of Twitter came from the "royal" family of Saudi Arabia, which has a long tradition of controlling Twitter in the shadows, both from outside and the inside. Twitter tolrates some forms of political extremism (until it's way too much), but not others.

People who have witnessed the ills of social control media can see this happening over and over again. There's no benign or benevolent social control network; the whole paradigm is flawed and it becomes toxic over time. Some people openly say that they're quitting Twitter and going (back) to blogging. Join these people.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
 
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025
Microsoft - Like IBM - Does the "Relocation" Tricks (Start Over Elsewhere, Then Get Sacked by Microsoft)
It is a "low blow" or a "dick move"
After the Free Software Foundation's Campaign to Raise Money Let's See Campaigns to Finish Off Microsoft (Vista 11, GitHub etc.)
Microsoft is in effect collapsing
Your Publications Have No Major Impact Unless or Until You "Get Some Heat"
we're on the right track
Slopwatch: A Cause for Hope, the Hype is Dying
For about a month we showed that becoming a slopfarm - for several weeks - resulted in utter failure and ruin for BetaNews
Links 11/07/2025: Censorship Worsening, 3D Printing Success Stories, UK and France Unite Around Nukes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Zorin OS and Scriptonite Updates
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Hardware, Russia, and China
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Intel Collapsing and Microsoft Resorts to Bribery to Push Slop Via Obligatory Education
Links for the day
The EFF Sided With the Team That Strangles Women and Tells Women to Kill Themselves
They say that apathy and inaction are a form of a "stance"
"Nat [Friedman] and [the Serial Strangler From Microsoft] Were Always Exceptionally Close," Says Former Housemate and Colleague
Now Alex (hiding behind another name when that suits him) not only attacks women but also people who merely report what he did to women
Exemplary List of Things That Are Not Artificial Intelligence or Even Intelligence
The "age of AI" or "era of AI" or "AI revolution" mostly boils down to rebranding, just like "the cloud"
New Letter From the European Patent Office Explains How the Office Plots to Grant Many Illegal Patents, a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of 'Growth'
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO)
Abuse of Process
5RB is employing people who help violent men
What Microsoft's Nat Friedman and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
"Get in da car; No time to explain, loser"
Microsoft and IBM Don't Have Much of a Future (They Mostly Pretend at This Point)
IBM and Microsoft are in some ways alike but in many ways different
It's Not Just Twitter (or X.com) That's Dying, Microsoft's Equivalent is Dying Also
Unable to find a business model
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.