Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter and take it private

[Introversion]

More 420D chess moves from Musk E. Coyote, Super Genius.

https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-data-api-prices-out-nearly-everyone/

Twitter’s API is used by vast numbers of researchers. Since 2020, there have been more than 17,500 academic papers based on the platform’s data, giving strength to the argument that Twitter owner Elon Musk has long claimed, that the platform is the “de facto town square.”

But new charges, included in documentation seen by WIRED, suggest that most organizations that have relied on API access to conduct research will now be priced out of using Twitter.

It’s the end of a long, convoluted process. On February 2, Musk announced API access would go behind a paywall in a week. (Those producing “good” content would be exempted.) A week later, he delayed the decision to February 13. Unsurprisingly, that deadline also slipped by, as Twitter suffered a catastrophic outage.

The company is now offering three levels of Enterprise Packages to its developer platform, according to a document sent by a Twitter rep to would-be academic customers in early March and passed on to WIRED. The cheapest, Small Package, gives access to 50 million tweets for $42,000 a month. Higher tiers give researchers or businesses access to larger volumes of tweets—100 million and 200 million tweets respectively—and cost $125,000 and $210,000 a month. WIRED confirmed the figures with other existing free API users, who have received emails saying that the new pricing plans will take effect within months.

“I don’t know if there’s an academic on the planet who could afford $42,000 a month for Twitter,” says Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor at Binghamton University in New York and a member of the iDRAMA Lab, which analyzes hate speech on social media—including on Twitter.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

 

[Alessandra Kelley]

Twitter's search function appears to be broken for me.

Twitter keeps returning blank searches with the cheerful message

Something went wrong, but don’t fret — it’s not your fault.

Like ... Great. Not even the "try again" message they used to have.

 

[Introversion]

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/cartels/cartel-twitter-elon-musk/

Elon Musk’s reduced Twitter safety oversight has allowed Mexican cartel members to flaunt their lifestyles online, post violent content and recruit new members, according to a new study.

Several previously banned accounts of known cartel members are again open and active on Musk’s Twitter, according to a report published last week by the Alliance to Counter Crime Online (ACCO).

Online, cartel members will often flaunt their crimes, at times boasting publicly that they’re wanted by the FBI while glamorizing their “gangster lifestyle,” according to the report.

Additionally, high-profile cartel members use the platform to recruit new members and post violent videos, said retired ICE Special Agent Victor Avila. Some accounts are used to send threats to government officials, civilians and rival gang members.

 

[Helix]

lols, I don't know wtf is going on at Twitter but I can see tweets from someone who's blocked me. (The person is a cooker former MP. He blocked me for suggesting -- very politely -- that his protest in one of Melb's most progressive electorates probably wouldn't gain much traction.) I'm logged in and not incognito. When I go to his account, I'm still blocked.

 

[Introversion]

lols, I don't know wtf is going on at Twitter

Rot. As in, it’s rotting. I’m a little surprised that it hasn’t rotted quicker. Kudos to the folks (most of them gone now, it seems) who created the services that make “the Twitter app”.

 

[Alessandra Kelley]

lols, I don't know wtf is going on at Twitter but I can see tweets from someone who's blocked me. (The person is a cooker former MP. He blocked me for suggesting -- very politely -- that his protest in one of Melb's most progressive electorates probably wouldn't gain much traction.) I'm logged in and not incognito. When I go to his account, I'm still blocked.

Can you see Tweets from folks you've Blocked?

 

[Diana Hignutt]

Rot. As in, it’s rotting. I’m a little surprised that it hasn’t rotted quicker. Kudos to the folks (most of them gone now, it seems) who created the services that make “the Twitter app”.

The whole world is rotting, my friend. Twitter is just a microcosm. Billionaires ruin everything.

 

[Helix]

Can you see Tweets from folks you've Blocked?

I've got so many people blocked that some might be slipping through, but I have to click on tweets of the damned blocked to read them.

 

[dickson]

I've got so many people blocked that some might be slipping through, but I have to click on tweets of the damned blocked to read them.

Now there’s a title: Tweets of the Damned!

 

[Helix]

Now there’s a title: Tweets of the Damned!

No wonder they call it the Hell site.

 

[Roxxsmom]

More 420D chess moves from Musk E. Coyote, Super Genius.

https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-data-api-prices-out-nearly-everyone/

Maybe institution-wide subscriptions are possible for larger, well-funded colleges or universities or university systems, but I think this price tag puts it out of reach for many smaller and moderate sized schools.

And even for those who could afford it, it's hardly clear that the Musk-run Twitter will be even close to worth it.

Time for something new to rise from the ashes. Captain Capitalism, where are you with your shiny new, affordable, high-quality alternative platform?

 

[Brigid Barry]

That's my big question: what does Twitter offer the colleges or whoever would pay for an institution wide subscription?

 

[Roxxsmom]

That's my big question: what does Twitter offer the colleges or whoever would pay for an institution wide subscription?

I am guessing less and less.

 

[MaeZe]

I wanted to reply to Laurie Garrett, lots of expertise in pandemics. But she's gone with the people who have their heads in the sand about COVID-19 coming from an animal in the wet market. The evidence is incredibly weak and the evidence it came from the lab is pretty strong.

I just wanted a quick reply, "Maybe you should revisit the issue Dr G instead of claiming those of us who aren't buying the spillover hypothesis simply aren't letting go."

In the past when I've been locked out of Twitter I just had to log back in with Google. No such luck, there was box after box to fill in, all my preferences including what stuff I wanted them to send me. It was pages long. Finally I backed out of the registration boxes and checked to see if I was logged in and could reply to Garrett. I was logged in and I replied to her.

Screw that absurdly intrusive stuff. If Musk wants to go that route to monetize Twitter I won't be logging in again. I get it Twitter is free (sort of) but that doesn't mean I owe them my soul. He can go 'eff off.

 

[MaeZe]

Maybe institution-wide subscriptions are possible for larger, well-funded colleges or universities or university systems, but I think this price tag puts it out of reach for many smaller and moderate sized schools.

And even for those who could afford it, it's hardly clear that the Musk-run Twitter will be even close to worth it.

Time for something new to rise from the ashes. Captain Capitalism, where are you with your shiny new, affordable, high-quality alternative platform?

I think there is some habit in there too. I imagine some professors are used to communicating with students via Tweets. It may be time for them to break those habits.

How about at your college @Roxxsmom ?

 

[Roxxsmom]

I wanted to reply to Laurie Garrett, lots of expertise in pandemics. But she's gone with the people who have their heads in the sand about COVID-19 coming from an animal in the wet market. The evidence is incredibly weak and the evidence it came from the lab is pretty strong.

I'm surprised to hear this, so I'm one of those folks with my head in the sand too. From what I've read in journals, I thought the seafood market evidence was favored by most of the scientific and medical community. This is a thread about Twitter and not Covid, of course, so there may be a better thread to take that discussion.

I am thinking that twitter is not a good place to have any discussions anymore, however.

Poo Emojis in response to questions by Journalists. Really, Mr. Musk?

I think there is some habit in there too. I imagine some professors are used to communicating with students via Tweets. It may be time for them to break those habits.
How about at your college @Roxxsmom ?

I've never used twitter or any other social media to communicate with students, personally. Most college instructors I know rely on whatever system their canvas uses to provide class sites and communicate with students in those classes--canvas, D2L etc. I doubt most of my students even use Twitter (maybe Tik Tok). I've used You Tube to privately disseminate a few password protected videos I made, linked through Canvas, and that's about it. I, and the rest of the college professorish types I know, tend to avoid using "personal" means of communication with students anyway. I don't want my students following me on social media. Too many ways to get myself in trouble that way.

I think the researchers who made use of twitter were more about analyzing it on a meta scale for social information, trends etc. I imagine those databases might be handy, for instance, if one was doing a study about the way public opinions about certain things shift over time in response to events, or maybe even looking at things like fashions, popularity of various public figures, or beliefs people have? Imagine if we had access to this kind of information from, say, the Civil War era. Historians rely heavily on things like diaries and personal correspondence to determine what ordinary people thought. The further back one goes, the less "ordinary" the sources become, since (until fairly recently) it was mostly more educated and privileged people writing letters and keeping diaries.

They didn't have the same kind of casual, widespread communication between people who didn't even know one another back then. We may never be able to definitively answer the question, "Were people always as stupid as they appear to be now?"

 

[MaeZe]

I'm surprised to hear this, so I'm one of those folks with my head in the sand too. From what I've read in journals, I thought the seafood market evidence was favored by most of the scientific and medical community. This is a thread about Twitter and not Covid, of course, so there may be a better thread to take that discussion.

I am thinking that twitter is not a good place to have any discussions anymore, however.

Poo Emojis in response to questions by Journalists. Really, Mr. Musk?



I've never used twitter or any other social media to communicate with students, personally. Most college instructors I know rely on whatever system their canvas uses to provide class sites and communicate with students in those classes--canvas, D2L etc. I doubt most of my students even use Twitter (maybe Tik Tok). I've used You Tube to privately disseminate a few password protected videos I made, linked through Canvas, and that's about it. I, and the rest of the college professorish types I know, tend to avoid using "personal" means of communication with students anyway. I don't want my students following me on social media. Too many ways to get myself in trouble that way.

I think the researchers who made use of twitter were more about analyzing it on a meta scale for social information, trends etc. I imagine those databases might be handy, for instance, if one was doing a study about the way public opinions about certain things shift over time in response to events, or maybe even looking at things like fashions, popularity of various public figures, or beliefs people have? Imagine if we had access to this kind of information from, say, the Civil War era. Historians rely heavily on things like diaries and personal correspondence to determine what ordinary people thought. The further back one goes, the less "ordinary" the sources become, since (until fairly recently) it was mostly more educated and privileged people writing letters and keeping diaries.

They didn't have the same kind of casual, widespread communication between people who didn't even know one another back then. We may never be able to definitively answer the question, "Were people always as stupid as they appear to be now?"

Re Twitter, I was bombarded a couple days after signing on with spam (even though I stopped half-way through all the questions). G-mail puts it in the 'social' category. I unsubscribed to each email. We'll see where that goes.

I can't believe anyone is paying $1,000 for anything on Twitter.

I took an evening college class on creative writing a few years ago. We had to sign up for an education website to get the instructor's messages. I can't recall the name, it was emodo or something like that. If I find the name I'll edit it in.

I dropped out of the class because it wasn't useful for me. The focus was on finding subjects to write about and my book was already well along. Anyway what happened is I started getting a ton of spam from them. It might have been education oriented spam but it was still junk mail to me. It took me a while to figure out I could just unsubscribe.

Seems a number of these websites have found the captive student audience.


Re the origin of SARS CoV2 (COVID-19), yeah, off-topic here but I've debated with myself about getting into a debate here about it in this forum. Let me just say one thing here, don't be fooled by claims "most" scientists believe the evidence is strong it was a 'spillover event' at the wet market. No there is not strong evidence it was a natural event.

If anyone is interested in a discussion, I'd be happy to oblige. I've been working in occupational infectious disease for more than 30 years and I have followed the origin of COVID debate since before the pandemic was declared. The actual evidence leans toward a lab leak but you'd never know that from all the researchers claiming, case closed. The news media has glommed onto the case closed assertion.

A lot of people don't want to consider a lab accident has resulted in a pandemic that killed millions. You'd think the news media would love a scandal like this but this is one bridge too far even for the media whose business model is scandal and controversy sell.

For the record, neither origin hypothesis has been conclusively evidence supported. The evidence for a natural event is seriously weak. Despite evidence they sold live animals at the wet market which could carry COVID, there is no evidence they actually did.

 

[Roxxsmom]

That's irritating. A good reason for College instructors to avoid using these kinds of sites in their classes. I wouldn't ask students to sign up for an external service or site to access material needed for class. I do sometimes link news stories or journal articles, You Tube videos etc., but these are from links available without a subscription, or available through our campus library.

That this happened a few years back may indicate that the instructor was experimenting with something when these sorts of things were newer and the SPAM issue was less well known. I don't personally know anyone who would do this for one of their classes, but I teach a very different subject.

Of course, I can't do anything about students choosing to subscribe to sites on their own if they think they have found one that supplements class content. There are numerous subscription "services" that offer everything from access to study aids to plagiarized term papers.

 

[Introversion]

https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/unmusked-how-elon-musk-is-using-twitter

When Twitter owner Elon Musk Tweeted his support for returning Crimea to Russia, Russian analyst Fiona Hill accused Musk of actively transmitting a message on behalf of Putin.

Canadian academic Michael McKay agreed, describing it as ‘active measures’ - a term used to describe how the Soviet Union used covert disinformation operations.

“Elon Musk is turning Twitter into VKontakte, the Russian information warfare outlet disguised as a social media platform”, McKay told Byline Supplement.

These claims have to be taken seriously. Hill is a foreign affairs specialist who was a witness during the first impeachment of Donald Trump, and McKay is a noted Ukraine expert with a PhD in political philosophy from the London School of Economics.

“Under the guise of ‘free speech’ Musk’s purpose is to destroy civil speech – genuine communication that connects people”, McKay explained. “Musk and Kremlin propaganda do not present a point of view. They seek to destroy the idea that truth and a shared experience of reality exist.”

To understand why the purchase of Twitter by a Kremlin-friendly billionaire matters, one need only to look how other autocrats and oligarchs around the world have abused their powers.

…

 

[ElaineA]

This tracks for me--there's no other reason to allow those on the Universally Accepted list of Vilest People Bounced from Twitter to return--but it seems so much more obvious now than it did when was when he was just a huge-number account spreading it around and using his ElonArmy to megaphone the disinfo. Which dilutes its effectiveness. He and his minions are overwhelmingly the butt of jokes and disdain, and far fewer people take them seriously.

As ever with authoritarian-minded people, they can't help but push and push and push, until they wind up exposed under the spotlight, buck naked emperors with only a few obsequious courtiers willing to tell them their suits look amazing.

 

[frimble3]

I think there is some habit in there too. I imagine some professors are used to communicating with students via Tweets. It may be time for them to break those habits.

How about at your college @Roxxsmom ?

I remember way back in my uni days, (late 70's, early 80's) we were warned about people selling fake papers, study guides and test answers, and that would have all been hard-copy. Not to mention out-of-date textbooks. Somethings never change.
But, to my mind, another reason for professors not communicating with their students by Tweet or other social media, is that it's a bad thing for students to get used to: how long before some unscrupulous professor (or TA) uses it to sexually groom favourite students? Perhaps they are doing it even now? Private channels are not a universally good thing.

 

[Introversion]

More “Free Speech Absolutism” from Twitter.

https://restofworld.org/2023/twitter-blocked-access-punjab-amritpal-singh-sandhu/

Twitter blocked 122 accounts belonging to journalists, authors, and politicians in India this week in response to legal requests from the Indian government. On March 23, the government issued a request for 29 more Twitter accounts to be blocked, as per data on the Lumen database — a collaborative archive which collects legal complaints and requests for removal of online material. The development follows a police crackdown and a subsequent internet shutdown in the north Indian state of Punjab to arrest separatist figure Amritpal Singh Sandhu. The government has declared Sandhu a fugitive and he is on the run. The current internet and SMS suspension in the state, enforced on March 18, affects 27 million people.

The blocked Twitter accounts include those belonging to journalists Pieter Friedrich, Sandeep Singh, Kamaldeep Singh Brar, and Gagandeep Singh; Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh and poet Rupi Kaur; and pro-Khalistan member of parliament Simranjit Singh Mann. A number of these accounts, which include prominent Sikh voices in the diaspora, were putting out credible information amid the current turmoil in Punjab.

 

[Introversion]

Starting April 15, only the tweets of paying Twitter customers will recommended For You content.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1640502698549075972

 

[Fi Webster]

More “Free Speech Absolutism” from Twitter.

https://restofworld.org/2023/twitter-blocked-access-punjab-amritpal-singh-sandhu/

=groan= Apparently Elmo is too ambitious to be merely an American-style xenophobe. Now he's adding xenophobia as practised in other countries. Is he anti-Uighur, too? Anti-Kurd? Anti-Pole?

 

[NickyRainbow]

Starting April 15, only the tweets of paying Twitter customers will recommended For You content.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1640502698549075972

Welp, that really is it then, I guess. The place will essentially become a scrolling feed of paid-for advertisements. No, wait — that's the best case scenario here This might be the most frightening move he's made so far.