Journalists begin new exodus from Elon Musk's X
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Elon Musk’s social media toilet X is facing a new exodus by journalists and organizations fed up with both the tanking quality of the site and the upcoming changes to its terms of service set to take effect Nov. 15. X’s new service terms require users who wish to sue the company to file in specifically the “U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas.” These courts are a favorite of conservative activists as they are stocked with Republican appointees. On Wednesday, The Guardian announced it would no longer post on the site, though it would not block X users from sharing its articles. “Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences,” the media outlet writes, “but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work.” Journalist Don Lemon, who is in the midst of a lawsuit with Musk for alleged breach of contract, also posted a statement on Wednesday about leaving the site. “I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” he wrote. The Washington Post reports that the location of the courts X specifies—which are not in the district of the company’s headquarters—are a red flag to many experts who say the move is a clear gambit to force litigation into Musk and conservative-friendly courts. Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck accused Musk of “quintessential forum shopping”—the practice of identifying a court or district where one believes they will receive a favorable ruling. He noted that 10 of the 11 active judges in the Northern District were appointed by a Republican president, compared with six of 11 judges in the Western District of Texas [where the company is located]. Musk’s preferred courts include such judges as Reed O’Connor, who owns between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in electric vehicle maker Tesla (also owned by Musk) but who has refused to recuse from Musk’s lawsuit against watchdog group Media Matters. Tech journalist Kara Swisher said she is leaving X for good and deleting her account because of the new terms of service. Swisher has followed Musk for a long time and has recently been very critical of Musk’s potential role in a Trump administration. “We all know that government doesn’t work in lots of ways, but it's not meant to be like a startup,” Swisher told CNN after Donald Trump’s election win. Swisher also predicted that Musk would merge X with Trump’s Truth Social platform, turning their social media sites into “meme stock” for their financial benefit. “[Musk will] use it as a propaganda organ, which is precisely why he bought it,” Swisher added. A recent computational analysis by researchers at Queensland University of Technology and Monash University found that after Musk endorsed Trump in July, X changed its algorithm to disproportionately pump his and other Republicans' posts into people's feeds. People have been moving over to platforms like Bluesky or Threads, but the energy needed to build up followings (hey, here’s me on Bluesky!) is daunting. Writer Cory Doctorow has said he does not believe he can invest his time and energy into investing in any privately owned social media site that can “enshittify” its site based on a CEO’s whims. Campaign Action
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/13/2285949/-Journalists-begin-new-exodus-from-Elon-Musk-s-X?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main
Elon Musk’s social media toilet X is facing a new exodus by journalists and organizations fed up with both the tanking quality of the site and the upcoming changes to its terms of service set to take effect Nov. 15. X’s new service terms require users who wish to sue the company to file in specifically the “U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas.” These courts are a favorite of conservative activists as they are stocked with Republican appointees. On Wednesday, The Guardian announced it would no longer post on the site, though it would not block X users from sharing its articles. “Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences,” the media outlet writes, “but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work.” Journalist Don Lemon, who is in the midst of a lawsuit with Musk for alleged breach of contract, also posted a statement on Wednesday about leaving the site. “I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” he wrote. The Washington Post reports that the location of the courts X specifies—which are not in the district of the company’s headquarters—are a red flag to many experts who say the move is a clear gambit to force litigation into Musk and conservative-friendly courts. Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck accused Musk of “quintessential forum shopping”—the practice of identifying a court or district where one believes they will receive a favorable ruling. He noted that 10 of the 11 active judges in the Northern District were appointed by a Republican president, compared with six of 11 judges in the Western District of Texas [where the company is located]. Musk’s preferred courts include such judges as Reed O’Connor, who owns between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in electric vehicle maker Tesla (also owned by Musk) but who has refused to recuse from Musk’s lawsuit against watchdog group Media Matters. Tech journalist Kara Swisher said she is leaving X for good and deleting her account because of the new terms of service. Swisher has followed Musk for a long time and has recently been very critical of Musk’s potential role in a Trump administration. “We all know that government doesn’t work in lots of ways, but it's not meant to be like a startup,” Swisher told CNN after Donald Trump’s election win. Swisher also predicted that Musk would merge X with Trump’s Truth Social platform, turning their social media sites into “meme stock” for their financial benefit. “[Musk will] use it as a propaganda organ, which is precisely why he bought it,” Swisher added. A recent computational analysis by researchers at Queensland University of Technology and Monash University found that after Musk endorsed Trump in July, X changed its algorithm to disproportionately pump his and other Republicans' posts into people's feeds. People have been moving over to platforms like Bluesky or Threads, but the energy needed to build up followings (hey, here’s me on Bluesky!) is daunting. Writer Cory Doctorow has said he does not believe he can invest his time and energy into investing in any privately owned social media site that can “enshittify” its site based on a CEO’s whims. Campaign Action
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/13/2285949/-Journalists-begin-new-exodus-from-Elon-Musk-s-X?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main