Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion

[Occam's Banana]

I've already seen talk of getting Twitter barred from "app stores" (Google, Apple) and web services (Amazon).

Remember Parler?

https://twitter.com/naval/status/1518629257622163456

For whatever it may be worth:

https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1519364465753526272

 

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1519345597463076867

 

[TheTexan]

I've already seen talk of getting Twitter barred from "app stores" (Google, Apple) and web services (Amazon).

Remember Parler?

Good point. I had forgotten about that. That is almost a certainty at some point.

I'm just gonna go short twitter real quick.....

 

[Occam's Banana]

Good point. I had forgotten about that. That is almost a certainty at some point.

I'm just gonna go short twitter real quick.....

Parler was nipped in the bud before it could get a solid toehold. Twitter is already well-established and will be harder to dislodge.

I won't be surprised if they try, though. Like James Lindsay, I almost hope they do.

Unlike Parler, there would be blowback, even (or especially) from "normies" who wouldn't otherwise care about any of this.

 

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/wokal_distance/status/1519133039183417345

Additional tweet images hidden to save space:

 

 

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1519338949419884544

https://twitter.com/TRHLofficial/status/1519454881907679234

Twitter Accused Of Conspiracy As Conservatives Mysteriously Start Gaining THOUSANDS Of Followers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8KKVneoJck

 

[69360]

Parler was nipped in the bud before it could get a solid toehold. Twitter is already well-established and will be harder to dislodge.

I won't be surprised if they try, though. Like James Lindsay, I almost hope they do.

Unlike Parler, there would be blowback, even (or especially) from "normies" who wouldn't otherwise care about any of this.

What will happen is that twitter will get banned from the app stores, liberals will quit it. Then some tech liberal will "invent" a new platform with a clever name like Libber or something. Twitter will go the way of myspace and Musk will be the bagholder. Prove me wrong.

 

[TheTexan]

What will happen is that twitter will get banned from the app stores, liberals will quit it. Then some tech liberal will "invent" a new platform with a clever name like Libber or something. Twitter will go the way of myspace and Musk will be the bagholder. Prove me wrong.

Best case, is Twitter survives but becomes the communication portal for the right wing.

The biggest risk is if Twitter's hosting providers ban them... it could take possibly months to move to a new provider. Which would end any hope of Twitter surviving.

 

[Anti Globalist]

 

[Anti Federalist]

Washington’s hands are largely tied as the world’s richest person acquires an influential social network, an impact of the regulatory void around social media companies

My God, just when you think the level of self awareness could not sink any lower.

Double think for real.

 

[Occam's Banana]

What will happen is that twitter will get banned from the app stores, liberals will quit it. Then some tech liberal will "invent" a new platform with a clever name like Libber or something.

Twitter has over 200+ million users, most of whom don't give a damn about "liberal" this or "conservative" that, and a great many of whom will pitch a fit if Apple, et al. try to cut them off from one of their favorite and most-used apps. Any new politically-motivated platforms erected by left-wingers will end up being just as much of a relative "ghost town" compared to Twitter as all the right-wing ones. And liberals are not going to quit Twitter en masse any more than they were ever going to move to Canada.

Twitter will go the way of myspace and Musk will be the bagholder.

MySpace didn't fail because of liberal exodus. It failed because Facebook offered a much more attractive (general-purpose and non-political) venue. Twitter already has that going for it - hence, its 200+ million users. Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, etc. may care a lot about Twitter as a venue for politics and ideology, but the majority of its users do not.

Twitter may fail, but if so, it won't merely be because of petulant leftist angst. (Any attempts by Elon Musk to reform it are another matter, however - one in which petulant leftist angst may indeed play a role, especially internally.)

Prove me wrong.

*shrug* "A thing will happen at some unspecified time in the future. Prove me wrong."

 

[Occam's Banana]

The biggest risk is if Twitter's hosting providers ban them... it could take possibly months to move to a new provider. Which would end any hope of Twitter surviving.

I suspect that Elon Musk can afford quite a bit more servers than Parler could (not to mention that existing in-house server capacity for Starlink is probably not insubstantial).

And as for time, I doubt that Musk is likely to be caught quite as flat-footed as Parler was ...

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1433108018413981698

 

[ClaytonB]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1433108018413981698

 

[TheTexan]

I suspect that Elon Musk can afford quite a bit more servers than Parler could (not to mention that existing in-house server capacity for Starlink is probably not insubstantial).

It's not about server capacity. It's more about the degree they are using cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) vs bare metal. In this case, bare metal reduces the risk greatly.

Twitter signed a contract with AWS in 2020. If they are relying heavily on AWS at this point and AWS shuts them down, it could indeed take 1-2 months to get it migrated to another provider. There is a great deal of lock-in when using cloud services, even when trying to minimize lock-in.

 

[TheTexan]

If Elon is reading this... message me and I will help you migrate to bare metal. Before AWS shuts you down.

 

[Occam's Banana]

It's not about server capacity. It's more about the degree they are using cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) vs bare metal. In this case, bare metal reduces the risk greatly.

Twitter signed a contract with AWS in 2020. If they are relying heavily on AWS at this point and AWS shuts them down, it could indeed take 1-2 months to get it migrated to another provider. There is a great deal of lock-in when using cloud services, even when trying to minimize lock-in.

I'll take your word for it, as cloud architecture stuff is outside my roundhouse.

But I still don't think Musk is nearly as unprepared or as incapable of adapting quickly as others such as Parler were or would be.

 

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519409148215111681

 

[TheTexan]

I'll take yous word for it, as cloud architecture stuff is outside my roundhouse.

But I still don't think Musk is nearly as unprepared or as incapable of adapting quickly as others such as Parler were or would be.

Another move would be for him to bootstrap his own cloud service company. And then migrate Twitter to it.

This is basically how AWS got started.

And we will need a "free speech" cloud service company eventually. Might as well have Elon do it now.

And do it the right way... (existing cloud services suck huge ass)

 

[GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged]

It's not about server capacity. It's more about the degree they are using cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) vs bare metal. In this case, bare metal reduces the risk greatly.

Twitter signed a contract with AWS in 2020. If they are relying heavily on AWS at this point and AWS shuts them down, it could indeed take 1-2 months to get it migrated to another provider. There is a great deal of lock-in when using cloud services, even when trying to minimize lock-in.

Haven't you heard? Elon is above the cloud. He is in space.

 

[GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged]

Good point. I had forgotten about that. That is almost a certainty at some point.

I'm just gonna go short twitter real quick.....

Be prepared for the rollout of the Muskown. That is a smartphone developed and sold for free speech. Costs a fraction of Apple and the service is supplied via satellite totally eliminating the middle pronouns. Smartphones for a fraction of the cost. No huge monthly payments. Okay maybe not the "Muskown" maybe the Twitter phone. Why not? Twitter goes telecommunications.