Long gone are the times when Twitter, then in the hands of Jack Dorsey, suspended the account of donald trump. The platform took away his “main electoral weapon” because, according to the statement, it represented a “risk of incitement to violence“. The decision was made after the assault on the Capitol, still investigated. Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022 and with him, Trump returned. The Republican managed to recover the White House two weeks ago; and with him, this time, came Musk. The magnate will be the new head of the Department of Government Efficiency; the one in charge of applying “drastic” reforms in public spending. As has muddied the digital conversation this synergy of far-right billionaires?
Musk landed on Twitter with a package of cuts and measures to reverse his drift “woke”; changed the bird for the Xpainted the blue black. The South African businessman imposed payment verification and suspended the accounts of several journalists who reported on the platform and its activity. Twitter soon began to fill with conspiracy messagesxenophobes and anti-vaccines. On November 18, 2022, Musk launched a poll to ask whether it was advisable to lift Trump’s veto. 51.8% of voters responded with a Yeah. It’s paradoxical: the platform that expelled him for being reactionary He raised him to the presidency again.
“The experience on Twitter had been degrading for years, but with Elon Musk has gotten worse, mainly for two reasons. The first, which has reduced control against harassment and fake news. The second, which made it easier to amplify hate messagesbecause it is enough to pay to have visibility and because the algorithm itself rewards them. Trump’s victory and the appointment of Musk show even more – if possible – that the platform was a propaganda tool for the neo-fascist project that they represent,” denounces Marta G. Franco, journalist and author of The networks are ours. The South African businessman defends freedom of expression; yes, his above all the others.
People are increasingly becoming informed through X, according to data from the Reuters Institute. The University of Queensland has published recent research analyzing the possible influence of platform algorithmic bias on the US presidential campaign; a change in metrics that triggered the visibility of Republican accounts. “X has prioritized some content over others, Trump’s messages reached you without having to follow him. The owner [Musk] He had very obvious interests. We cannot forget, because it is not trivial, that the first thing he did when buying Twitter was fire the workers who were in charge of the moderation groups. This speech against censorship is really a breeding ground for hate messages,” insists Laura Pérez Altable, professor of Communication at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona.
The sources consulted by Public They recognize that the platform was not “toxicity free“before Musk’s arrival, but “it did offer certain guarantees.” The increase in hostility and its mutation into a “disinformation network“in recent days motivated the migration of hundreds of users, institutions and media towards other alternative spaces. trump victory It has also been “triggering” in this sense. “Elon Musk’s way of being has permeated the way of being of this social network, but we cannot simplify the problem so much, We cannot maintain that the extreme right won the elections just because it was good at tweeting and posting biased videos. This is an exercise in intellectual laziness,” defends journalist and professor Carlos A. Scolari.
What has gone wrong in the digital sphere?
Mastodon, Threads and Bluesky They have been gaining users with each of these migrations, but always in a subtle way; The transfers have never finished taking shape. “This is not the first wave, but it could be a turning point.. Trump’s victory has caused a chain of small actions that have managed to move the board a little,” says Raúl Magallón Rosa, professor of Communication at the Carlos III University of Madrid and expert in disinformation and fact-checking. The sources who have spoken with this newspaper ask “wait a few weeks or months” to see if the leak of accounts really “is as big as it seems” and goes beyond the fervor of the first days; in addition, they remember that the “contamination” of the digital sphere “comes from afar.”
Teresa Piñeiro Otero, professor of Communication at the University of A Coruña and expert in new narratives, analyzes the modus operandi of these spaces. “He timeline infinity and the for you have given relevance to other people’s contentpublications that cause more impact in the community. Anonymity, speed, and the ability to post immediately and thoughtlessly have gotten worse since the arrival of Elon Musk. The platform monetization It allowed the extreme right not only to have free rein, but also served to amplify its ideas. The ideological drift and involvement in Trump’s campaign they gave the final push [para abandonar X] to thousands of users,” he claims.
Last week the umpteenth change in the X privacy policies. The company now reserves the right to sell personal data of its users to train artificial intelligence models – both its own and those of others. “Twitter is totally ideologized, but the whole big tech It has a bias in some way. Programmers and their algorithms, the staunch pursuit of profits at all costs –even knowing that the contents are hoaxes and harmful– and the monopolistic aspiration make these spaces [las redes sociales] are not places for public debate, in fact, they can end up making it worse,” they warn from UNA Projecta collective focused on unmasking new forms of fascism that has just published the book The virality of evil.
Can we find safe spaces on the Internet?
Media like Guardian and The Vanguard have abandoned X in recent days, arguing that, since Musk’s emergence, the platform had become a “disinformation network“. The massive flight of users has filled the servers with a mixture of doubts, audacity and suspicion. Do the new alternatives offer guarantees to resolve the deficits of the digital landscape? “It is early to speak in a reasoned manner, but I believe that the migration of major media outlets, personalities and institutions will be key to giving Bluesky the support that other platforms did not have,” responds Teresa Piñeiro Otero. The application has started with a philosophy open sourcebut risks bowing to pressure from its investors.
The butterfly social network, also promoted by Jack Dorseyhas gained between 600 and 800 new users per minute since last week, almost all of them in USA. Bluesky promises a feed chronological and without predefined algorithms, to “encourage dialogue” and “fight against abuse” on digital platforms. Decentralized base technology allows us to raise – for the moment – a kind of barrier against bots and misinformation, but nothing is definitive. “Networks are made by people, we cannot forget that. The disinformation industry has not yet landed on Blueskybut we will see what happens when there is a lot of population,” acknowledges Mariluz Congosto, computer scientist and researcher in social networks at the Carlos III University of Madrid.
The fear of the arrival of hoaxes and trolls It makes perfect sense, according to experts. “The space on-line is a continuation of offline. This means that if power structures or systemic injustices exist, they can be reproduced on any platform. Design can sanction or reward these attitudesbut that depends on each company. Bluesky arrives announcing changes, but we cannot ensure that he will not repeat the same patterns. The solution is to search financing models not dependent on venture capital nor advertising,” they say from Proyecto UNA.
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