• Balder@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    it’s his platform, he can do whatever he wants on it, he paid a lot of money for it. […] I really don’t get why this would upset anyone

    lol

    1. Champions “free speech” to justify buying Twitter in a legitimate way.
    2. Wins over idealists who think they’re fighting for openness, calling it a “public square”, “Greek Agora” etc.
    3. Bans critics and content he just doesn’t align with.
    4. Gets called out.
    5. “Whoa whoa, I meant my free speech. The rest of you? Peasants.”
    6. People leave the platform: “I don’t get why this upsets anyone, it’s his platform”.

    This reminds me of the behavior most common in subreddits such as /r/Bitcoin, we can even put it side by side:

    • Step 1: Preach a grand ideal — “X is the free speech Agora!” / “Bitcoin is your path to financial freedom!”
    • Step 2: Rally support by moralizing it — “If you’re against this, you’re against liberty!” / “Only fools ignore Bitcoin!”
    • Step 3: When the consequences hit — censorship or market crashes — suddenly the ideal becomes personal: “It’s his platform, he can do whatever he wants.” / “You fool! You shouldn’t have invested more than you can afford to lose.”
    • Jeena@piefed.jeena.net
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      23 hours ago

      You’re misunderstanding what I wrote, because:

      People leave the platform: “I don’t get why this upsets anyone, it’s his platform”.

      Is exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say with:

      he is not forcing you to use his platform

      you can just leave, there are so many alternatives available, if you don’t then you are part of the problem, giving him power and putting more money into his pockets. In fact you should have seen the writing on the wall many years ago and latest when he bought it.

      Being upset about this now after he did so many worse things is just silly.