'X' Is A 'Read Only' Digital Gulag
Zero freedom of reach does not equal freedom of speech
I’ve tried for several months now to engage on X by replying to posts. I’m now giving up. I went through a very brief halcyon period when I was getting lots of impressions and plenty of replies, proving that, unthrottled, even an account with less than a hundred followers can stimulate useful debate online. But for the majority of the time, the visibility of my replies has been severely limited, a situation which continues to the present day. Others complain similarly, even large, popular accounts with many thousands of followers. Sex bots with zero followers liking posts is also a growing problem.
The internet could be a wonderful thing, and it was for a while, in the early days. But censorship is now rife across the board and free speech and genuine open debate, on a level playing field, is effectively non existent on all major social networking platforms, including X. Human progress is being stifled. The man who would reach for the stars, who owns the world’s most popular social networking platform, is either too weak to prevent the censorship of genuine free speech online, on his own platform, or is complicit in that evil enterprise. X is a waste of space, useful only as a ‘read only’ information service with the obvious caveat that what you read is also being controlled by the X algorithm.
Ironic:
Anyone who thought St. Elon we going to “save free speech” (or put a man on Mars, or have a working electric semi-trailer, or sell millions of robo-taxis or cars that will drive themselves across the continent) should go line up for a free ride on the Hype-R-Loop.
I don't have an X account - I gave up my Facebook account over 10 years ago when I saw the garbage that people who I respected were posting and have shunned social media ever since (if you don't count substack!)
It seems to me that social media has been an uncontrolled sociology experiment. What it has revealed about human nature has been disconcerting and depressing. We humans are simply not up to the task of controlling our emotions and this has been amply demonstrated when we feel protected by online anonymity or remoteness.
You may be expecting too much of an individual like Musk. I don't think he is the master of this situation even though he is a powerful player. Technology has become the tail that is wagging the dog - like those who slavishly wait for pedestrian lights, we are allowing ourselves to be told what to do by computers rather than the other way round.