Elon Musk and Twitter employee reinstate Alex Jones’s account live on Joe Rogan’s podcast: pic.twitter.com/BWR8EGJXfz
— Damon imani🔅 (@damonimani) April 26, 2022
Is it really actually happening?
It feels like a dream.
I’m waiting to make my new account, because apparently Twitter mods are doing a “last watch” and still banning returning heroes.
Did they already ban some of the returning heroes?
YOU WON'T HAVE THAT ABILITY MUCH LONGER, LOSER TWITTER MODS!
BETTER START FILING OUT THAT UNEMPLOYMENT PAPERWORK!
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) April 26, 2022
There is no “except for Anglin” clause in Elon’s pitch, and at this point, he is in so deep there is no reason to back down. So yes, of course I’m making an account.
Tomorrow, I’m going to try to draw up something like an official proposal on block list subscriptions to create “safe spaces” for people who are afraid of having their feelings hurt. The original and initial claim for the bannings at Twitter was “harassment,” which was actually “people saying mean things that allegedly hurt people’s feelings.” Allowing people to subscribe to block lists to block out all right-wing content from their feed is the solution to this. Twitter already has block lists, but they’re fan-made, so if Elon introduces a new one he can say “anyone who is worried about seeing mean words or being misgendered can subscribe to one of the block lists to protect themselves from speech they feel is dangerous to their personal mental health.”
After that, there aren’t any real issues. The “hate speech” arguments are ridiculous, and the only way they made this work was appealing to hurt feelings.
The media is calling for Congress to pass laws to prevent free speech.
The E.U. adopted new measures that require big online platforms to police hate speech and disinformation only days before Twitter entered into an agreement to sell the company to Elon Musk. https://t.co/niy0kya1Rk
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) April 26, 2022
They call it “harmful content.”
They are going to run stories of women and colored people being driven towards suicide by internet bullies, and putting in the block list mutes this completely. “Anyone can subscribe to any of the various levels of block list to protect themselves as they see fit.”
Also, people are saying Elon wants everyone’s ID card to post – he’s not saying that.
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
He’s just saying that people who are real people can get their blue checks universally if they want them. The background on this is long and probably not known to people who weren’t directly involved in it, but the blue check mark – which was originally just designed to prove that some account was the official account of some person or organization – has been used politically. Before people were banned, they often lost their blue check, and it was like “wait so are you saying you’re no longer sure this is the official account of the person in question?”
Then of course there are a bunch of rando journalists no one has ever heard of who want blue checks and don’t get them because Twitter never made an effort to give anyone who asks for a check a check. So there will be some automated process of scanning your ID card or passport, instead of a team of Indians deciding if you deserve a check.
That doesn’t have anything to do with anon accounts. It’s a totally different subject. Nothing Elon has said has implied that you will be required to give an ID to post if you just want to post anonymously.
I think this is really happening, and the only possible thing that will stop it at this point is if Elon is thrown in prison or Congress rushes through some kind of hate speech legislation and the Supreme Court ends the First Amendment.
It’s happening.
The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022