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X Purges Prominent Journalists, Leftists With No Explanation, including TrueAnonPod (www.vice.com)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by geese_feces@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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The suspensions affected several journalists and commentators, including Texas Observer journalist Steven Monacelli, Ken Klippensten of The Intercept, podcaster Rob Rousseau, and Alan MacLeod of MintPress News. The landing page for their accounts says it’s been suspended, but does not give any explanation as to why. A message on the profiles simply states “X suspends accounts which violate the X rules.”

The ban didn’t just hit journalists either. Several prominent-left leaning accounts were also purged from the website, including the account for the TrueAnon podcast and @zei_squirrel, a cartoon squirrel that tweets media criticism of figures like Glenn Greenwald.

This isn't the first time the site has banned reporters. In April, it permanently suspended Wired reporter Dell Cameron after he spoke with a hacker who accessed conservative pundit Matt Walsh’s emails. In December of 2022, it suspended the accounts of ten journalists who’d been critical of site owner Elon Musk.

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-x-twitter-journalists-banning-spree-1851151593

https://twitter.com/liz_franczak/status/1744712132015370527

Edit: they're back now

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[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 72 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Some people have their ego tied to their follower count and it's sad.

Mastodon is the obvious choice for people already using Lemmy. They're both part of the Fediverse. no-copyright

[-] i_need_a_non_identifiable_name@hexbear.net 36 points 10 months ago

Not just an ego thing - some people have livelihoods that depend on their follower count. Twitter is very important to update Youtube subscribers, Twitch followers etc. on things. Remember, we are in the early stages of the Technological Adoption Life Cycle (assuming the Fediverse actually catches on) so most people don't use the Fediverse. As a content creator, you have to adapt to what people currently use.

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 33 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There were ways to automatically connect Twitter to the Fediverse and give you the best of both worlds, but Elon killed them. 🙁

[-] i_need_a_non_identifiable_name@hexbear.net 31 points 10 months ago

So much for the "free market" lmao

[-] xj9@hexbear.net 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

sounds like we need a commercial cooperative social media organization that can foot bills like this to give users/creators alternative options, without restricting their reach. i don't want to give twitter that much money, but an org that can foot that bill probably has to make significantly more than 500k USD / year. social media can be big money if its done well. maybe a bunch of crafty marxists and nerds can figure that out. i'm working on some plans to give it a shot, mastodon has a lot of potential, but there are a lot of on-boarding issues that i think could be easily solved by caring a little less about advertising "federation and open source" as the main selling point. ya feel?

i don't think this is particularly "revolutionary", but with facebook entering a woefully unprepared fediverse (and being cheered on by mastodon core devs) i think some kind of leftist media platform needs to be assembled to mount a resistance and carve out a niche that isn't overrun by reactionaries and liberals.

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm spinning up my own single-user Mastodon instance and the VPS required to do so is surprisingly cheap; it just takes a little technical knowledge. If I were a little more well off I could easily open it up for user registrations.

mastodon has a lot of potential, but there are a lot of on-boarding issues that i think could be easily solved by caring a little less about advertising "federation and open source" as the main selling point. ya feel?

I'm not sure I understand, but I want to. Can you elaborate?

[-] xj9@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago

The Hexbear Method. Build the website and then federate it. The value doesn't come from "open source" or "federation", but they are nice things to have. I think widespread self-hosting is ultimately beneficial, but that's another side-benefit not really a broad selling point.

[-] ExotiqueMatter@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 10 months ago

i think some kind of leftist media platform needs to be assembled to mount a resistance and carve out a niche that isn't overrun by reactionaries and liberals.

I’ve been thinking the same for a while, it would be nice to have not just one site but an entire ecosystem of Marxist internet all linked together.

[-] xj9@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

One of my goals for my project is to improve federation between Akkoma and Lemmy. First class support for coms would really make it for me even if they can't be created & managed locally. I want it too.

Edit: I have a whole plan that goes along with my other post that I hope will work out. I'll probably post something about it once I'm a little further along.