A social media site gets big, goes public, & soon we wind up with a very wealthy individual who essentially controls the narrative around the world. Their power is cemented by mass-layoffs and severe, intentional underinvestment in moderation.
Meanwhile, a small group of working-class moderators are left using drugs to cope with the PTSD from their jobs. The sheer lack of investment in the platform foments an environment where transphobic libel motivates a Massachusetts woman calls in a bomb threat to a children’s hospital and an Oklahoma man firebombs a donut shop for hosting a drag event. These are only two of the countless instances of transphobic violence left unchecked by social media capitalists.
Clearly illegal activity. Libel is not protected speech & neither are bomb threats. Firebombs are also illegal. But the capitalists profit heavily off of this kind of rhetoric and refuse to hold their most abusive users accountable for the real world harm they cause. Libs of TikTok has been unbanned at least 7 times by Twitter despite clear violations of ToS.
Elon Musk buys up Twitter, allowing his transphobic fanboys to freely post transphobia that clearly violates ToS. Elon, the wealthiest man in the world, and current owner of one of the largest social media conglomerates in the world, wants to “review” the site’s policy of banning transphobic harassment.
Elon Musk’s reign of terror has just begun. It’s been barely a week. Now he can oppress his factory workers to death while giving a leg-up to powerful transphobes all around the word. Elon Musk was never elected nor appointed. His position is entirely due to his massive wealth and connections.
Elon Musk is one of the most powerful men on earth and he answers to nobody.
Elon Musk is a modern-day monarch. So is Mark Zuckerberg.