What to do about X: manton.org
@manton x is the platform where i lashed out at revolut about them being hostile to grapheneos, and it actually made some unexpected waves.
i hate it, but…
yeah.
@manton I think it’s premature to believe that “X has survived” anything. As long as they keep getting fines like 120M Euros for violating the Digital Services Act(1)
they aren’t clear of anything. And, there are still pending lawsuits surrounding Grok’s Deepfake issues(2).
When Elon took over, there was a major issue with the debt of the company, which only got worse as Elon had to secure more loans for the company. Since doing this a number of lenders had had to write off the multiple billions of dollars of debt. This isn’t sustainable, and eventually they will come calling on the company to make good on the remaining debts.
Elon’s business strategy has been risky, at best. And, he’s been lucky to have been unscathed in this political climate. However, that is likely changing soon, and I think Twitter and Elon will run into some very strong headwinds.
Originally, I saw a timeline of five-ten years before either (a) Elon left X, or (b) it imploded. That may have been extended a bit by this administration. But I remain convinced that there will be some serious issues.
(Side note: I’m unconvinced that the information we are seeing about X/xAI as a business is reliable. Before Elon’s takeover there was a public reporting requirement that was frequently double-checked by others. Since taking the company private the numbers that are being reported by X have been questionable.)
@manton I hate everything a guy like Zuckerberg is doing with Meta, so I’m not on any of its platforms except Messenger when responding to others, and the same goes for WhatsApp. I never initiate conversations on these services myself. I hate Musk and don’t agree with his worldview, so I’m not on X and won’t contribute to the platform by cross-posting there. Simple has that. I don’t care who’s there or not. I’m not. I won’t.
@de My post was inspired by John’s but I’m trying to make a broader point of what to do now. I guess I do agree with him that it’s hard to avoid linking to X sometimes.
@numericcitizen I also don’t post to any Meta platforms and I don’t post to X. Oops, I did use Facebook marketplace recently…
@unattributed Maybe there was a better word than “survived”… It is interesting that SpaceXAI may have bailed out X’s business.
@manton I think it’s naive to think any of the other systems except mastodon are any better than X because they are on the same track twitter was on.
@dave I feel differently about Bluesky. Whether they make it as a business or not, I don’t know. But I think it can be a bridge to open platforms for a lot of people.
@manton I would doubt that they “bailed out” X — more like played shell games with the money would be my bet.
But you get what I am saying, I think it’s premature to claim survival, or stability for that matter… But, time will tell.
@numericcitizen @manton SAME. LOL. Wouldn’t want to support them. Heck, I don’t use FB Messenger or WhatsApp - deleted my accounts there a long time ago.
@manton No mention of Mastodon or the Fediverse in your X -> Bluesky progression. How do those platforms fit in your vision?
@MitchWagner The fediverse remains important, but I left it out of my example progression because I don’t see many current X users moving to Mastodon. Bluesky is more likely to appeal to old-school Twitter users who have stuck around on X.