In a scathing attack on Twitter the news organization ABC has labelled the platform proposing X is now a ‘worthless’ platform.
If the ABC smear proposes X is now a ‘worthless’ platform, how valid is that? The ABC says “Over the past 12 months, Mr Musk has gutted content moderation, restored accounts of previously banned extremists, and allowed users to purchase account verification.
The Report from the HILL
“Handled.” That one word, responding to a 2020 demand to censor a list of Twitter users, speaks volumes about the thousands of documents released by Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, on Friday night. As many of us have long suspected, there were back channels between Twitter and the Biden 2020 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to ban critics or remove negative stories. Those seeking to discuss the scandal were simply “handled,” and nothing else had to be said.
Ultimately, the New York Post was suspended from Twitter for reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Twitter even blocked users from sharing the Post’s story by using a tool designed for child pornography. Even Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was suspended for linking to the scandal.
Perhaps the ABC report on the above event went wayward and was not noticed. The reality is that Elon Musk has made access to information not simply the Domain of vested interests, who have the power and the money to control the narrative.
The facts are indisputable there is no evidence to justify ABC’s smear proposing X is now a ‘worthless’ platform. The general public has moved away from informing themselves from mainstream media. The reason is simple. For many years now the mainstream media has not reported on the truth. The truth about any event is liberating and the public wants to know exactly what is happening in their world and not simply the Narrative.
An Oxford University report
This report explores the underlying reasons for low trust in the news media and social media across nine countries (United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Australia, France, and Greece). The study is based on analyzing thousands of open-ended responses from the 2017 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, where we asked respondents to give their reasons for low trust in their own words, using open-ended text fields.
An Oxford University report says the following about people’s perception of mainstream media. By coding and analyzing responses, authors Nic Newman and Richard Fletcher categorize the specific issues that are driving public concern across countries.
Among those who do not trust the news media, the main reasons (67%) relate to bias, spin, and agendas. Simply put, a significant proportion of the public feels that powerful people are using the media to push their own political or economic interests, rather than represent ordinary readers or viewers. These feelings are most strongly held by those who are young and by those who earn the least.
- In many countries, particularly the US and UK, some media outlets are seen as taking sides, encouraging an increasingly polarised set of opinions. Others are criticized for not calling out lies, keeping information back, or creating a false equivalence of partisan opinions that are obscuring facts and understanding.
- For those that do trust the news media (40% across the nine markets surveyed), a significant proportion feel journalists do a good job in checking sources, verifying facts, and providing evidence to back up claims. There is more confidence in the professional integrity of journalists (and the transparency of their processes) in the US, Germany, and Denmark than in the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.
- Social media (24%) is trusted less than the news media in its ability to separate fact from fiction. There is a sense from respondents that feeds are becoming polluted with inaccurate information, extreme agendas, and strong opinions, perhaps encouraged by social media algorithms. But, people also blame other social media users for fuelling these stories by sharing without reading them.
- Despite this, we also find a substantial minority who trust social media for its broad range of views and authenticity. Some of these are people who distrust the mainstream media or complain about its biases and agendas. Others revel in a wide range of sources and feel confident in their ability to spot inaccurate or agenda-filled news.
Indeed if the ABC smear proposes X is now a ‘worthless’ platform why does the ABC post on Twitter at all?
“Handled.” That one word, responding to a 2020 demand to censor a list of Twitter users, speaks volumes about the thousands of documents released by Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, on Friday night. As many of us have long suspected, there were back channels between Twitter and the Biden 2020 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to ban critics or remove negative stories. Those seeking to discuss the scandal were simply “handled,” and nothing else had to be said.
Ultimately, the New York Post was suspended from Twitter for reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Twitter even blocked users from sharing the Post’s story by using a tool designed for child pornography. Even Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was suspended for linking to the scandal.
This is just one example of how Elon Musk has cleaned up Twitter which was at the time being manipulated by centers of power. There are many more.
Here’s what Twitter users think
I don’t think it is being smashed. I think the corporate world, which includes big media, is doing its utmost to make X users believe it is.
Just look at the negative narrative that the Oz ABC is pumping out.
Some would say the ABC is now a worthless platform for reliable news.
The last comment perhaps sums it up perfectly. Some would say the ABC is now a worthless platform for reliable news. The problem for mainstream media is that Twitter offers citizens Journalism by empowering each individual to act and report on events. This destroys the narrative that the mainstream media pushes onto the general public. The Media environment has drastically changed with the advent of platforms like Twitter, the public is no longer beholden to the narrative that is carefully created by vested interests and expressed through mainstream media.
