Elon Musk became the “owner” of Twitter last week. He tried, unsuccessfully, to worm his way out of the purchase or to somehow renegotiate the purchase, but in the end, he bought the Nazi hellsite for $44 billion. I haven’t seen any hard numbers to back this up, but I would assume that Musk has already lost money on this investment, as people are leaving the hellsite in droves and advertisers are sure to follow. Pretty soon, the only Twitter advertiser will be MyPillow. Musk is doing the most to devalue Twitter too – over the weekend, he tweeted a right-wing conspiracy about Paul Pelosi AT Hillary Clinton’s account… which he later deleted without apology. We have the owner of Twitter tweeting out hate and fascist conspiracies like he’s still some regular old Nazi sh-tposter. Speaking of Nazi sh-tposting, there’s already a significant rise in hate speech and racism on Twitter too.
In addition to all of that, Musk doesn’t understand – ?? – that the appeal of Twitter was always the fact that it’s free to use. It’s not a private club, it’s a messy democracy. Well, now Musk wants to charge money for verification and Twitter Blue:
Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave.
The directive is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional, $4.99 a month subscription that unlocks additional features, into a more expensive subscription that also verifies users, according to people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence seen by The Verge. Twitter is currently planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription. Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark. Employees working on the project were told on Sunday that they need to meet a deadline of November 7th to launch the feature or they will be fired.
Musk has been clear in the months leading up to his acquisition that he wanted to revamp how Twitter verifies accounts and handles bots. On Sunday, he tweeted: “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”
Even though he is barely three days into being “Chief Twit,” Musk has moved quickly to make changes at Twitter, first by changing its homepage for logged out users. With the help of Tesla engineers he has brought into Twitter as advisors, he’s also planning mass layoffs aimed at middle managers and engineers who haven’t recently contributed to the code base. Those cuts are expected to begin this week with managers already creating lists of employees to cut. Employees tasked with executing projects of Musk’s since he took control Thursday evening have been working late into the night and over the weekend.
I was never on Twitter Blue nor did I ever get verified, just FYI. While I used to love the Twitter community and I’m probably going to stay on the hellsite until the wheels truly come off, I’m not paying for any of it, plus I’m too lazy and too cheap to get verified. My suggestion would be: stay on Twitter for as long as you can stand it, but don’t pay a dime for it. I also hope advertisers leave in droves. Let’s make this Musk’s dumbest investment.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, JPI Studios / Avalon.
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- Elon Musk, Mae Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277513, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Mae Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277542, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277550, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277560, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277574, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
GMC has already suspended their ads. They wont be the last.
Unfortunately, I agree with the analysts who are saying that his buying Twitter isn’t about ad revenue or any other kind of revenue — it’s about poisoning public discourse (even more than it has been already). Musk is in hock to both the Saudis and the Russians, under the terms of the loans he’s taken out to finance this buy.
I REALLY hope someone else (not Jack Dorsey, who I think is basically in cahoots with Musk) starts a new social media company. But we’ll see.
Agreed, I’m sure there’s a way for him to write the financial debacle that Twitter is becoming as a loss on taxes to Musk’s advantage. The purpose of going through with this purchase is clearly to further poison discourse based on Musk’s exchange with Dmitry Medvedev about Victory Day in Moscow, Musk pushing Putin’s agenda and the fact that the Saudi’s are now the 2nd largest shareholder in Twitter
There’s also been talk of an “understanding” btwn Muskrat and Jack Dorsey, who is planning to launch another SM site, “BlueSky” that already now has over 30k Beta signups. Could be a “deal” to tank Twitter, and giving EM shares in the new co., like a “silent partner” kind of thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
With what’s going on in the world now, ANYTHING is possible.
I’ve set up an account on “Counter Social”. Check that site out. It’s the only one that seems good.
I am #BlueAndStaying on Twitter at least until after the Midterms. Then I’ll see.
the fact that the owner of a large platform for public discourse is openly supporting a fascist conspiracy movement in the US is truly harrowing.
I would pay for Twitter but not a Twitter filled with hate speech. I left because I’m not interested in seeing any hate speech. I also noticed journalist engagement had fallen way off in the week before the sale was finalized.
The Twitter debt has Tesla stock as collateral. Major losses in Twitter will threaten the health of Tesla AND SpaceX. He’d have to sell Tesla stock or IPO SpaceX to get the cash to pay off the loans. He’s leveraged Tesla stock already for loans for SpaceX and SpaceX equity for things for Tesla. His financials are a tangle of threads and a failure in one business could take down another.
He tried to get of the Twitter deal for these reasons. He may have wanted to purchase Twitter to change public discourse, but he will be largely unsuccessful in the long-run. People will move somewhere else. Twitter’s lukewarm success was largely due to Tumblr alienating users and they went to Twitter. The same will happen quickly here.
I also agree. And I’m not usually a conspiracist, but with these big money guys buying these large platforms, I do feel like we need to pay attention. This guy just has some kind of stunted adolescence and a need to show us he’s really the superman he thinks he is. But he’s destroying the democracy in the process (part of the plan, I think).
GMC is a competes with Tesla so they’re not giving Elon their money but you’re correct, they won’t be the last, especially not when he pushes evil conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt on the Speaker of the House that ended with her 82 year old husband suffering a skull fracture.
I’m verified and have over200,000 followers but I won’t be paying. He can F off with his nazi crap.
I was going to ask – so normally verification just means, what, exactly? that you are who you say you are, that you’re not a troll or bot, and that you have enough followers? But there was never payment involved with it before, right?
No payment! for me, I had to show all of my “real” info – DL, address, mail, press passes corresponding w/ my film, tv, media appearances, IMDb page etc.
back then it had to be studio distributed shows movies etc.
I deleted my account as soon as he made the offer to buy Twitter, not gonna support this a**hat in any shape, way or form if I can help it.
Same. I don’t use the app professionally or personally, so I saw no use in staying on to be assaulted by hate speech. I value my mental health too much for that.
When I learn how to delete my Account, I will be doing the same. I won’t support this twat in any way.
@AnnaKist – You can’t delete, you “deactivate” and they say they’ll delete you after 30 days of inactivity. Do it now, before they hemorrhage so many users they change the policy and make it impossible to leave.
As long as people *don’t* leave, the advertisers will stick around and they’ll keep making $ off you. Just lurking but not engaging is the business equivalent of endorsing.
To keep anyone else from using my moniker on the bird app, I will deep sleep my account. If he starts charging for access to it in general, then I might have to bury it permanently. I am an artist and indie author, so I’d like to keep my name there under my control. Otherwise, I’ve been spending more time with the folks hanging out at counter.social.
Why stay? I see a number of people vowing to stay and fight, but that’s what they want. The ones spouting hate speech and nutty conspiracy theories do so to get at us “lefties” or anyone with a conscience. That’s how they get their rocks off. If they were just spewing into an echo chamber where everyone agrees with them, it will lose its appeal and they’ll seek another venue.
So I say people should leave and make Twitter obsolete.
I agree. I get not wanting to be bullied away from things you enjoy, but those trolls just want to rile people up. If it was really about free speech, then they would all be on Gettr, or Parler, or TruthSocial and those websites would be raking in billions in ad revenue. They want to harass people, and if they can’t do that, they lose interest. They’ll crow about driving people away at first, but then they’ll lose interest too and stop using it.
I’m just staying for the mid-terms and then leaving. Something else will come up before the presidential election.
100% agree! All other competitors failed because only the maga crowd who were banned by Twitter joined and there wasn’t the kind of engagement they want. I’m reminded of Ali’s words “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain”. Since reasonable people didn’t join other “free speech” (insert eye roll) sites, Musk had to buy twitter in order to spread their propaganda.
It’s a mess and I’ve conflicting feelings. Do I stay and not let them run me off or quit and move on? Already the filth posted has sickened me. Like you my plan for now is to hang in but not pay a dime. Also will be reporting any garbage which could become exhausting. I will go ahead and join another site recommended. I’ve always loved Twitter by curating my account and am disappointed to say the least.
Quit n move on. You can’t argue with idiots. Not worth the time and effort. Let them drown amongst themselves.
I never argue with anyone, ignore and block. I love getting breaking news, Democratic info from all over, smart and funny and like-minded tweeters. Careful curating works.
Block every fascist troll you spot. Even if they aren’t interacting with you. It will help to keep them at bay.
I already deactivated both my personal and professional accounts. Musk taking over was just the final straw. It’s become a complete cesspool. I can’t even stand the tweets from accounts I agree with politically anymore.
Same. I’ve been on there for work, but I can’t even stand to spend any time there anymore. For now I’m sitting tight (like I said, barely on there), but I’m ready to delete at any moment.
Eh, my Twitter feed used to be all political/social but I chose self-care in 2020 and focused on literary/linguistics/handwork and I’ve never been happier to live in an obvious bubble.
I tried that last year – muted all the words/names that brought up stressful topics, blocked the a-holes, focused on books and flowers and dogs. And what did I get for my troubles? The stupid algorithm decided I wanted to see all the “Fluffy went over the rainbow bridge last night” tweets. Plus, even my little friend circle had become hard to take – as @JJ mentioned above. I deactivated in January. Best stress-reliever ever.
Ugh. The same thing is happening to me on IG. I watched one rainbow bridge tribute by accident, and now IG suggests every similar video. My feed is littered with sick, dying and dearly departed pets. I came for cute puppers, and now I have carnage. It’s very distressing, and not at all what I need in these trying times.
I got dying or dead babies/kids tribute, pimple popping, and pregnant people on my IG. Nothing in I would want to watch, you make a mistake and read one post and they just keep feeding you similar stuff. I would prefer the dogs or pet rainbows to the kids. I just what to see my friends kids growing up. I do love Twitter but will probably give it up as I did Facebook. I try muting, and a few blocks but when people I follow retweet Musk, I am at a loss for what to do. I am starting to listen to audiobooks again and pick up my knitting. Twitter got me through the Trump years, I am really going to miss it.
I’ve sort of done the same thing. I only follow about 40 accounts (most of them local, like my news station, hockey team, and some friends) and I hardly ever Tweet, so my interactions are limited. I’m not against deactivating my account, though, if it does get as bad as I fear it might.
OMG guys, all the algorithm did for me was get me hooked (no pun intended) on Knitting Twitter even though I don’t knit 😆
I already wondered about pay-out’s to stay on twitter. There are many accounts with racist tweets that I have reported time and again and no action was ever taken.
Twitter is a cesspit, i’m not sad about it’s downfall.
The Verge had an outstanding article about what **always** happens to social media sites that relax or eliminate moderation protocols (Musk’s “free speech” promises), and pointing out that the only “product” or asset of Twitter is its users (not its ad model), and when the remaining normal users bail because of the sewer Twitter will become, it’s done. A PSA: I and others got a brief thrill over the weekend when Jack Dorsey tweeted about his new Blue Sky app now in development … uh, no … it’s a collaboration with Musk, not a competitor for Twitter.
I read that, it was really great. It was a very clear outline of how and why Musk will fail at this. Also, this subscription $ thing is exactly how engineers think you monetize stuff. You can’t monetize an unmoderated site, and the users are the product.
Jack Dorsey is nobody’s savior. He’s why Twitter has the worst content moderation (and smallest audience) of the major social networks. He’s swimming in the same cesspool as Apartheid Clyde, even if he’s not in the deep end. The only silver lining is what this will do to their net worths.
Added silver lining: imagine deplatforming JK Rowling!
This verge article is FANTASTIC
https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/28/23428132/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-problems-speech-moderation
It’s not just the old “if it’s free, you’re the product”cliche.
He lays out exactly why Musk bringing Tesla engineers in is hilariously stupid- ” it’s not an engineering problem it’s a political problem”
And since it’s political, Musk will inevitably let his incel free speech racist fanboys down bc, for all his posturing, Musk has actual manufacturing and business interests in countries that demand curbs on free speech.
Plus he made a bogeyman (and promptly fired) Vijaya Gadde, the Twitter exec who did the most to balance free speech with moderation, protect anonymity, and fight against government demands.
He’s f-cked. And the amazing thing is this so-called genius did it to himself.
The EU has already warned Musk there are laws inside Europe that protect against certain types of speech. Some Europeans are protesting calling the EU a bunch of dictators… The world on on the verge of breaking for good. I don’t see a good future for mankind
That article was FIRE! GREAT read!
Excellent article! Thanks for posting…I put it up on my Facebook page, I’ll probably get sent to FB jail for it 🙂
That is a great article and worth the read. Thanks!
I am not paying Elon Musk a red cent for his bullshit ideas. He won’t see a penny of my money I will just leave Twitter.
Tesla engineers as advisors? Lol! The same engineers who design those luxury cars that half the time can’t be driven? It’s going to be a massive failure.
Right? And he’s taking those engineers away from Tesla, in the middle of their own recalls and functional problems. Who’s working on those issues at Tesla if a bunch of their coders and engineers are holed up at Twitter?
I guess “free speech” at Twitter is more important than money/cars not catching fire and locking people inside. He’s working very hard at tanking both companies.
I know Elon is not as smart as his fans think he is, but I read that Verge article C-Shell mentioned, and I’m wondering if he’s completely aware of that, is doing this on purpose, because SURELY there is a way to make this a write-off and he can recoup his losses. I don’t know US corporate tax law at all, but given what billionaires get away with, I wonder if that’s his actual end game.
He likes to rule by fear which runs so counterintuitive to how most startup founders think because… your brain shuts down creative functions under threat.
If I was given a week to meet his ridiculous demands or be fired, I’d be spending this week 100% job hunting on office time to move to a workplace culture that doesn’t feel like tyranny.
His companies like SpaceX have an extremely high turnover rate. I have seen it first hand. There’s nothing more exhausting than having my team have to redo everything with a bright young right out of university new hire who doesn’t know anything (no good transitioning), watch them slowly burn to a crisp, and then leave the industry all together. And repeat again every year or two. (FYI – I don’t work for SpaceX. We work with them.)
This demand is very much what he does to all his employees, all the time.
Actually, that will make it so easy to cull ads. I don’t want Musk to make any advertising revenue from me so I block promoted tweets. How long will advertisers stay if paying for promotion gets you mass blocked? Now I can just start blocking all the paid verified accounts 😈
Musk et al claim to be “libertarians” (even though the best description I’ve ever read about libertarians is that they are like cats. They barge in demanding to be fed and attended to, and then claim to be independent). So let the free market speak. There’s no point hanging around to get piled on by racists and facists whose only pleasure in their miserable lives comes from trolling and harrassing people.
You can only fight the good fight, or stay in an argument, if there’s a mutually agreed on foundation of fairness and pursuit of truth. If not, then there’s no point at all of sticking around.
I agree with the abolitionist William Llyod Garrison:
With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
That last quote is amazing. Trolls remain the same
@Lanne thank you for this quote.
Lol @ this clown with his bs! Now that he’s been whining about the prevalence of bots, it will be interesting to see if he does anything about them. Plus, he has to replenish those billions he overspent on this platform somehow!
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is already in the process of developing a counter platform which is in beta testing. CounterSocial seems to be a popular new gathering space that mentioned a lot in my timeline. Since my block game is strong and im not on much, I’ll stay until they get on my last nerve. In the meantime I’ll also check out other platforms.
Free Speech coming with a price tag then.
Staying and “fighting” is giving them what they want, engagement. Do not engage. No amount of pointed comments are going to get through to whom you’re sparring with.
I deleted my account when he started to “buy” it. (I’m sure my 20 followers are devastated.)
I like my professional Twitter (no blue button) because I get a lot of interesting new research articles and such there. But the Musk takeover shocked me, even though it was predicted. It felt like a train was coming and no one bothered to lay the tracks to avoid it. I am worried about the midterm elections in the U.S., I am worried about the world. And this is all at the end of the hottest October we have ever had in Europe. It’s discouraging.
There’s no other playground like Twitter, is there? At first I thought Bluesky was going to be an alternative, then I read that EM and Jack were sort of working together? I do not know. It’s a mess.
So here’s my question: why would pay for verification if you’ve already been verified? People who are blue check…. they’re already known as verified, so what does it matter if that check goes away?
I am probably going to stay on twitter as long as I can stand it but I am only part of a few small communities and I block with great abandon. I will not spend a penny on it however and if the stench gets too great I will not miss it. I am sure there are alternatives like “Tribal” that will grow and welcome the non-Nazi types that leave Twitter
If the people leave, the advertisers will leave. That’s the math. Stop giving Twitter your attention, and this shit show will sink like a rock.
Seriously I hope Celebitchy reconsiders and drops Twitter.
+1
The fact that chic fil a, hobby lobby and Twitter won’t go under really demonstrates to me a. how much white Americans care about convenience over social justice and b. how many racist/homophobic/apathetic people we really have.
But vote.
The advice is to stay?! And give Twitter legitimization through numbers?! If there’s something that should be canceled right now, it’s Twitter!!
Also, fewer users and advertisers influence the stock markets, so drive that sh*t down.
+1
I agree with comments above. Free Speech will now cost $$. My mental health is worth more to me. Do not engage with people who only want to argue. I hope Twitter goes down ASAP.
Elon Musk would make PTBarnum proud. Musk is nothing but a snake oil salesman, with an ego.
For those of you who say you won’t give Twitter a cent–your membership, attention and celebrity (if you have 200k followers) are being monetized, which to me feels sleazier and more compromising than paying for a subscription. I made up my mind years ago to pay for things I use on the internet–email, magazines, newspapers.
I guess you’re speaking to me? The things you mention you pay for are not a global town square, which by the way he told everyone would be free.
Your comment was rude and disparaging- you know nothing about me except that you think I should be willing to pay Elon for being an anti-democracy bigot.
You condemn me for my presence being monetized. Right, who’s monetizing my contributions? That’s right. Elon. And now he wants to charge me to boot and you think that’s acceptable? Lol.
So I should give everything to Elon including my money for the privilege of him monetizing presence, according to you. Pass.
P.s. Easy way to spot Elon cult is that they are super defensive of Elon’s right as the richest person in the world to abuse the system, take huge money from taxpayers, and basically do whatever he pleases and charge taxpayers again for the privilege of his existence.
I’m so glad I never got into Twitter. My feeling has always been anything truly important from Twitter will find it’s way in front of my face another way.
Yep, excellent take. If it is important enough, you will hear about it. Maybe not in real time, but you engaged enough and keep to update, it will make mainstream news feeds pretty quickly.
I never got on Twitter either. The only social media I’m on is FB, and I rarely go on that anymore. I read a large number of news and commentary sites daily so as you say, if it’s something important it’ll get to me.
I use Twitter for politics and news and rarely comment. I’ll only stay if it’s free, but not if I have to pay.
I deleted my account yesterday. I feel like a massive drop in numbers will speak to advertisers more than anything.
I hate Elon Musk and deleted my account. I hope someone develops an alternative quickly and puts Twitter out of business.
I’d gotten back on recently for a news feed so to speak, but I couldn’t do it after he tweeted the Pelosi crap. It made me so mad envisioning this bully at home playing with his new toy and ruining lives with it. Burn in hell, space, wherever … just burn.
It only matters if brands leave, and as long as people stay engaged with them on Twitter, they will stay and advertise. The best thing people can do is stop interacting with those accounts on Twitter. Other social sites aren’t much better, but they aren’t run by Dr. Evil
This is how you know the deal is a financial nightmare for Elon & why he tried to get out of it. He’s trying to raise revenue while cutting costs, but it won’t work. He can’t afford to lose advertisers, so he will have to keep the platform moderated at approximately the same level it has been historically (which is to say, tolerable when curated, still largely a hellscape).
Elon’s highest & best use is as a social media stunt queen, but at the end of the day, he has to service the billions of debt that financed this deal. And I’m guessing the Saudis won’t take dogecoin.
Twitter is now Elon Musk. To stay is to be part of a site where the OWNER tweets hateful conspiracy theories after a horrific assassination attempt on a US political leader. There’s no other reality here.
This totally did it for me.
💯 this.
Your presence on Twitter benefits Elon Musk. Nothing morally ambiguous about that.
I’ve been verified for years because I’m a former reporter (now doing PR). I absolutely will not pay any amount of money to keep the blue check. And I can almost guarantee current reporters won’t either. That’s a lot of money and most reporters make crap salaries.
Our clients are already starting to look at other social networks and websites re: advertising because Twitter is too risky.
Most people will end up staying for now because there is no alternative. If he starts charging subscriptions that will end fast though. Twitter has been losing millions since 2019, even with advertising. I am convinced he was drunk/drugged when he bought it.
I use Tweetdeck, which means I only get tweets from people I follow — and I unfollow freely if people start tweeting too much unpleasant stuff. The few times I’ve gone on Twitter itself, the algorithm has pushed all kinds of crap on me that I don’t care about. So I get why people call it a cesspool, but if you can make use of tools like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite and carefully curate your follow list, it’s not so bad.
That said, I will delete my account if it starts taking up too much of my time to manage. I’ve already quite Facebook and Instagram for that reason…Twitter won’t be hard.
I’m not sure if I’ll stay or go yet. I do not want to add to this egomaniac’s wallet, so of course nope on payments of any kind, but I’m also concerned about his access to our information now bc he’s a cartoon villain at this point.
What is truly scary to me is the effect his propaganda has on our future as well. I’m aghast that so many of our youths consider this huckster a brilliant genius, bc of his wealth, faux maverickism and businesses.
Many think Elon knows what’s up and is America’s Neo Anderson, and that adult who eschew Musk are not woke and worse. Lots of teens & young adults weirdly idolize him & his status & clout, thinking he’s smart, rich and upsetting the power culture on purpose with a universally positive agenda & he’s so cool to not care what anyone else thinks.
When you are used to free you don’t switch to pay. I don’t care how many typos i make on twitter. I am not going to pay a subscription to pay for edit feature or a blue check mark no one give a rats whiskers about.
I just use Twitter for breaking news or who died today. I scroll by the hate and don’t engage. I will hang on for awhile to see how things turn out. But I did read Jack Dorsey is already in talks to come back.
I’m sure the second he can dump it he will sell it at a loss.
He reminds me of villains in Batman movies. I guess we are all Gotham: either falling for his cult of personality or wishing for a better world.
I deactivated my account today. I’m oddly sad about it because Twitter is always great when there is a major cultural event that needs to be historically recorded through memes. But I won’t miss the endless hellscape of misogyny, racism, bigotry, sexism, anti-LGTBQ++, etc., etc.
Elons tweet about Pelosi’s husband was the last straw for me. From the moment Chief Twit took over, the content became more vile than ever. Some people were using it just to post the n-word over and over because they thought now they could! Perhaps Chief Twit can lure (genius?) Kanye and the two ya-yas can lose money together. They deserve each other.