[Air-L] Twitter Journalist Suspensions

Fri Dec 16 06:20:39 PST 2022

Hi,

I wouldn't over-analyze Musk, he seems purely reactive and playing
whack-a-mole with Twitter rules and users.

To return to Emma's question, I think we need a plan or even a strategy as
AoIRists. I think this is the smartest (and almost always most cordial)
place for people to discuss key issues like this. A David to Musk's Goliath
of Twitter, but not without power.

So what do we do? Do we quietly quit? Do we more proactively set up or join
an existing platform (Mastodon is great in many ways, but it's not the
same)? Do we make some sort of statement about how this shows a need for a
fundamentally different approach to regulating internet platforms?

At the core of this is what we expect from social media. Despite a somewhat
chirpy exterior, I'm old-fashioned and grumpy. I never get/got much from
Twitter -- I get a lot more from this list. Yes, Twitter could connect me
and expose me to new things and people -- as well as show me breaking news
and information in a new way -- but think of all the vile experiences and
comments we've had (particularly as women) on Twitter. Was it worth it?
Looking back, it was never really a public commons. When good things
happened due to Twitter (BLM etc.) it was more a bug than a feature in some
ways.

How do we, as scholars and humans, leverage the affordances of existing
online technology, not only to support our academic endeavors but (if I
read most of this group correctly) to advance the values of humanity and
technology in a positive direction?

OK, that's a lot and many of us are grading. But Emma's question of "what
to do" is really the question we need to answer ...

Sarah

Sarah Oates
Pronoun: she/her

Professor and Senior Scholar
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Email: soates at umd.edu
Phone: 301 455 2332
www.media-politics.com
Twitter: @media_politics

On Fri, Dec 16, 2022 at 9:10 AM Vivian Gerrand via Air-L <
air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:

> This is chilling, Rob.
>
> Also interesting that he would bother. An indication of how much Musk
> feels threatened by the migration of Twitter users to Mastodon? Or (more
> likely) simply staking his claim as a warrior in a culture war?
>
> Thanks for sharing.
>
> Vivian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Air-L <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org> On Behalf Of Robert W Gehl
> via Air-L
> Sent: Saturday, 17 December 2022 12:30 AM
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Twitter Journalist Suspensions
>
> In addition to the 11 journalists being booted from Twitter, a related
> development: Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon and other fediverse
> sites. This morning, I attempted to post a link to my Mastodon profile (
> https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.social%2F%40robertwgehl&data=05%7C01%7Cvivian.gerrand%40deakin.edu.au%7C4575f88485b24b37ddfc08dadf6c8950%7Cd02378ec168846d585401c28b5f470f6%7C0%7C0%7C638067954504695876%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=AR4inHa82YQoATcMJOcOwX%2FyBJ%2FOSbRCFTqr07HFedo%3D&reserved=0).
> It was blocked due to it being "harmful content."
>
> In addition, Twitter has suspended @joinmastodon, the main Mastodon
> developers' account.
>
> Perhaps this is an old fashioned capitalist attempt to crush the
> competition?
>
> Or maybe not. As a test, I tried posting a link to the far-right site
> Gab.com, a social media site which harbors self-identified Nazis and was
> the social media of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. Gab styles itself as
> a free speech absolutist alternative to Twitter.
>
> The Gab.com link was allowed.
>
> - Rob
>
> On 2022-12-15 22:47, Dr. Emma Briant via Air-L wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > I'm sure all will agree that the mass censorship of, I think now 11
> > journalists from major news organisations today by Elon Musk is
> > incredibly disturbing. I am wondering how one deletes all one's tweets?
> Anyone know?
> > I'm considering doing this but leaving my account as a placeholder, so
> > I am not leaving that data there, and removing myself at this point
> > from the platform. I was hoping not to do this, given that I network
> > in Twitter for my research on propaganda and develop contacts. But
> > this obviously crosses such a line. People need to push back somehow
> > not just move to mastodon , but I'm honestly not sure how. I'm trying
> > to process the implications and wondered other's thoughts on this latest
> development.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Emma
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