It was an easy decision to close my Twitter account this past Sunday morning. It was right after Musk tweeted that Anthony Fauci should be prosecuted, writing, “His pronouns are “Prosecute/Fauci.” But it just as easily could have been the night before when Musk attacked Twitter’s former executive, Yoel Roth, by exposing his internal emails that led to the banning of Trump after the insurrection on January 8.
The emails revealed protracted and anguished discussions among the Twitter staff discussing a ban. Musk turned it upside down, accusing him of not following the company’s normal process for removing members….as if January 8 was a normal event.
He also posted tweets that included excerpts of Roth’s doctoral dissertation, suggesting the former executive is an advocate for child sexualization — a claim that leaves Roth susceptible to online abuse and physical danger. Shortly after he needed to flee his home because of the threats he received.
Musk continues to trash everyone associated with the company he was forced to buy. He’s already fired 80% of the company’s employees and is making unreasonable demands on those remaining, including forcing them to sign loyalty oaths and encouraging them to sleep in their offices if needed to get their work done. Many of those remaining have few options; they have work visas that would require them to leave the country if they lose their jobs.
Musk continues to promote far right conspiracies and attacking anyone that criticizes him. Musk is clearly narcisstic, insecure, petty and vengeful, and it won’t end well for him. He has no viable business strategy as he brings back those kicked off the platform for posting anti-semetic, Qanon, anti-black and anti-gay posts. Major advertisers will not come back if their ads might appear among these hateful posts.
It’s a shame because Twitter has been a great resource for many. It’s a source of breaking news, where discussions occur about various events and where it’s possible to make contact with journalists, politicians and other interesting people. It’s also been a great vehicle for promotion and advertising. But that’s all been contaminated with those on the fringe promoting their hate speech and lies. The only ads remaining are for the kind of products you might find at a Dollar Store.
As a replacement, I recommend using Post.News, a new Twitter-like site being created by the founder of Waze, the Israeli social mapping company bought by Google. It’s free and is growing quickly with hundreds of thousands of members joining. It’s much more civil and has many of the same participants that made Twitter so useful, including legal and political analysts, links to news stories and good civil discourse.
Musk owns Twitter, allowing him to do most anything he wants with it. And as he does he’s quickly destroying a company and a reputation for no good reason.