Censorship, lockdowns, arbitrary bans — Twitter is popping into the China of social media

Wow, that was fast.

When Elon Musk purchased Twitter and took it personal in October, I figured we’d have some time earlier than issues took a flip. Then, after he laid off about half the corporate’s staff, that estimate shortened a bit.

Now, after final evening’s Spaces brouhaha, throughout which Musk confronted journalists he banned for retweeting hyperlinks in regards to the ElonJet tracker after which abruptly killed the function totally, that timeline has moved up significantly.

To be clear: Twitter isn’t going to die tomorrow or subsequent week and even subsequent yr. But given how the previous few days have gone on the platform, I’m not fairly certain how lengthy Twitter will stay a viable platform. It’s turning into the China of social media, stuffed with censorship, arbitrary bans and teams of customers/accounts that leap to Musk’s protection each time they really feel his narrative is being undermined.