Elon Musk is tackling issues that the previous management would never have touched, causing media embarrassment.
We have been watching with equal parts amusement and amazement the mass media meltdown about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Things are getting more bizarre after weeks of panic. Musk is now taking steps that directly defy the claims that he turned the platform into an infected digital wild west. While journos lament their loss of control, the new boss is pursuing real threats.
The well-publicized migration by journalists to Mastodon has not been smooth. Recently, I reported on high school clique antics. However, many other media members are not allowed to join. (I disclosed that I had requested to join the “Newsie”, journalist server, a week ago in order to see the antics. However, I have yet to hear back from approval. In the meantime, Mastodon’s portal has other servers that are blocking the site’s journalist center.
The self-important journalists continue to unravel on Twitter. Julia Ioffe is one example. She declared the site “destroyed” when she sent out…a tweet. Not only does this contradict her claim, but so is the flood of new users to the platform. CBS News is another example.
Friday evening, it was announced that they would be leaving the platform. The entire news division was reported to have stopped tweeting out “out of an abundance of caution”, in light of the “uncertainty” on Twitter. Although the perceived danger was not mentioned directly, it was evident that this entire network was virtue signaling and in line with other members of the press.
Many saw this as trash taking its own path. Then, as if that wasn’t enough humor, CBS couldn’t even last the weekend. Sunday morning, the network announced that it would be returning to Twitter. This could only signify that Twitter is now safe and that all the journalist anxiety has gone away.
After pausing for much of the weekend to assess the security concerns, CBS News and Stations is resuming its activity on Twitter as we continue to monitor the situation.
— CBS News PR (@CBSNewsPress) November 20, 2022
Media posturing is only for the mirror. This is proof of their self-involvement. Musk has been working under the radar to get rid of child pornography traffickers and sexual offenders. Eliza Bleu, a human trafficking advocate and victim advocate, has been lobbying for years to have these crimes addressed at the site.
Bleu revealed this weekend that Musk was leading efforts to eliminate known hashtags used by those involved in trafficking this pernicious material for a while.
Wow! The most popular hashtag used to sell child sexual abuse material on Twitter is almost completely cleaned out.
— Eliza (@elizableu) November 20, 2022
Amazingly, this activity has been going on for a while without any steps being taken. She highlighted the case of a 13-year-old girl who had been sexually exploited. Images of criminal activity were being shared on the platform in September. The management denied that they had done anything to remove the material. This is a shame because Musk’s move is being overshadowed by other aspects of the takeover and Musk’s reliance on internal operations since his company was taken over.
This is made all the more absurd by all of the alleged journalists whining about the safety and degradation of Twitter since Musk’s arrival. He is now directing actions against criminal activity that has been allowed to operate for a while. These actions should be praised loudly. Instead, the media want to make this a personal threat, which they can only realize.
Musk is forcibly ending dangerous sexual criminal activity. The press is too busy making announcements about their departures on Twitter as though it is a train station. You can take the bad news when they return to the platform.
