Bonum Certa Men Certa

Video: Twitter is Just Social Control Media



December 16th Twitter



Summary: Twitter is shutting down as a Web site; the video above explains some of the many issues associated with the way the site works in 2020 (it has changed a lot over the years, profoundly benefiting surveillance capitalists at users' expense)

Today Twitter is supposed not to work as a Web site anymore; they said that would end after December 15th, but now they say after December 16th. They can't make up their minds, can they? See the latest screenshot (above). It contradicts what the site has said for over a month. Either way, the site has quickly become -- however gradually -- another Facebook. Almost all the reasons for quitting Facebook are now equally applicable to those wishing to quit Twitter.



"It's an appalling source for actual news rather than noise filtered for somebody else's agenda."Earlier this week I wrote about quitting Twitter (the account becomes only a bot) for being a bunch of noise and surveillance that interferes with communication instead of facilitating it. It's becoming hostile towards older devices, it's harvesting a lot of data (like people's phone numbers, ID documents, date of birth and so on as verification prerequisite), and it helps facilitate some of the very worst aspects in society. It's not social media but antisocial pseudo-media or social control media (when it comes to censorship). It's an appalling source for actual news rather than noise filtered for somebody else's agenda.

A spying keyboardThis video was done unscripted in one (first) take and it was mostly a rant about what Twitter had become. It's hardly an exhaustive list of all the issues. A lot of companies still believe that they need "Twitter presence" even though it can prove to be a liability, not an asset. How often has the EPO had PR gaffes in Twitter? It's hardly surprising that neither Benoît Battistelli nor António Campinos chose to have accounts there. A few high-level EPO officials have Twitter accounts and those can cause embarrassment in exchange for a relatively small audience.

The benefits associated with Twitter activity have long been outweighed by the harms, both on a societal (collective) basis and personal level. It's probably fair to say that the Twitter "attention economy" and the harvesting of minds (data-mining 'screen time') is only overshadowed by Facebook's. Prior to the death of Google Plus (Google+) several other Google attempts at social control media were similarly scuttled. Maybe Google realised it was just a passing fad.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Military-Grade Anti-Linux Microsoft Propaganda Using Microsoft LLMs in Fake 'News' Sites (Slopfarms)
This is part of a pattern
Rust is Starting to Seem More Like Microsoft-hosted "Digital Maoism", Not a Legitimate Effort to Improve Security
Maybe this is very innocent, but they seem to have taken a solid, stable program from a high-profile Frenchman and looked for ways to marry it with GitHub, i.e. Microsoft/NSA
 
GNU (and the FSF) Still Changing the World
Today, in 2025, GNU powers almost everything
Links 09/05/2025: Analog Computer and First time at FOSDEM
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 08, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, May 08, 2025
Links 08/05/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google Again, India/Pakistan Tensions Continue to Grow, New Pope (US) Selected
Links for the day
"Victory Day" - Part I: That is the Day Microsofters Who Assault Women Pay for Their Actions in Foreign Land (Using "Guns for Hire" Who Attack Their Own Country for American Dollars)
Adding a friend from Microsoft to the docket didn't help
Gemini Links 08/05/2025: Practical Gemini Use Case, Shutdown of the Blanket Fort Webring
Links for the day
Links 08/05/2025: "Slop Presidency", US Government Defunds Public Broadcasting
Links for the day
Lasse Fister, Organiser of Libre Graphics Meeting, Points Out the Code of Conduct is Likely Violated by the Same People Who Promote Codes of Conduct (and Then Bully Him Into Cancelling a Keynote)
I am starting to see Lasse Fister as another victim
LLM Slop Attacks Not Only Sites of Free Software Projects But Also Bug Reporting Systems (Time-wasting, in Effect "DDoS")
Microsoft, the leading purveyor and promoter of slop, is a cancer
The Richard Stallman (RMS) "European Tour" Carries on In Spite of the Nuremberg Incident
Some people spoke about how they saw yesterday's talk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 07, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 07, 2025
The CoC Means the Founder of GNU/Linux Cannot Talk and a 72-Year-Old Man With Cancer is Somehow a "Safety" Risk?
Those who don't like RMS are not forced to attend his talks
Gemini Links 07/05/2025: A Shopping Spree and Digital Gardening
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2025: Pegasus Guilty and a Path Towards EU Without Russian Energy
Links for the day
People Used to Talk
If pets can live a measurably happy life without gadgets and "apps", why can't humans?
Outsourcing GNU/Linux to Microsoft GitHub Promoted by Microsoft LLM Slop and Army Officers
Something doesn't seem right
Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part III: No More Media Lawsuits From Brett Wilson LLP This Year, One Can Only Guess Why
People leak a lot of material to Techrights because they know, based on the track record, that the sources will be protected and whatever gets published will stay online, in full, no matter how stubborn an effort (even lawsuits and blackmail) will be sent its way
Gemini Links 07/05/2025: Adopting GrapheneOS, Further Enshittification of Flickr
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2025: CISA Gutted, Debt-Saddled (Likely Insolvent) 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop) Faking Its Financial State Again
Links for the day
Finland, Lithuania, and Latvia Fortify Their Digital Border With GNU/Linux
This month's data from statCounter is particularly interesting near the Baltic Sea
The European Patent Office (EPO) Has a Very Profound Corruption Issue, Far More Urgent an Issue Than Pronouns
a rather long document
Richard Stallman Gives Public Talk at Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic
"For programs that you could run, and for network services that could do your own computing, under what circumstances is it reasonable to trust them?"
Today We Turn 18.5
The eighteenth "and a half" anniversary
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 06, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 06, 2025