Is it time to depart X? Musk could also be manipulating by way of algorithm | EUROtoday

Robert Habeck und die SPD handeln antizyklisch. Sie hatten die Plattform X verlassen, jetzt sind sie wieder da. „Back for good“ schrieb Habeck, der den von Elon Musk übernommenen Kanal vor fünf Jahren hinter sich gelassen hatte, nun aber offenbar glaubt, als Kanzlerkandidat der Grünen auf diesen nicht verzichten zu können. „Orte wie diesen den Schreihälsen und Populisten zu überlassen, ist leicht“, schrieb Habeck mit anschwellendem Pathos.

„Aber es sich leicht zu machen, kann nicht die Lösung sein. Nicht heute. Nicht in dieser Woche. Nicht in dieser Zeit. Deshalb bin ich wieder auf X.“ „Herausfordernde Zeiten verlangen nach besonnenen Antworten. Deswegen haben wir uns für die Rückkehr auf X entschlossen. Denn nur wer seine Stimme einbringt, kann sich auch Gehör verschaffen“, teilte die SPD mit: „Wir freuen uns auf eine spannende Zeit.“

Spannend wird es bestimmt auf X, einigermaßen sonnig ist die Einschätzung allerdings schon. Denn eine of­fene Plattform, die der demokratischen Meinungsbildung dient, ist X nicht mehr. Elon Musk hat sie zu seinem persönlichen Propagandakanal gemacht, zur Echokammer von Autokraten, Rechtsextremisten, Antisemiten, Rassisten und Sexisten. X, das ist heute ein vergifteter Ort und – es ist das Megafon der künftigen amerikanischen Regierung, die dann über gleich zwei Digitalplattformen verfügt – über Donald Trumps „Truth Social“ und über den Meinungsmarktplatz seines Chefberaters Musk. Damit zieht der künftige US-Präsident in seinem Einfluss auf die digitale Medienwelt mit dem chinesischen Regime und dessen Einfluss auf Tiktok mindestens gleich.

A number of media houses and celebrities have concluded that they are leaving X. The American writer Stephen King was still combative a few days ago. He denied that he was banned from the platform because he referred to Musk as “Trump’s First Lady,” saying the quote didn’t come from him. But it might be that his canine Molly is contemplating “biting the Musk Man”. But then King withdrew resignedly: “I’m leaving Twitter. I tried to stay. But the atmosphere is too poisonous. Follow me on threads if you like.”

The British “Guardian” stated goodbye to Musk’s platform with an analogous evaluation. It is “of the opinion that the advantages of a presence on X are now outweighed by the disadvantages”. This is true given the “often disturbing content that is advertised or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.” The US presidential election marketing campaign has underlined “what we have long thought: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, was able to use their influence to influence the political discourse.”

The Spanish newspaper “Vanguardia” adopted go well with with the “Guardian”, as did the Swedish “Dagens Nyheter”. Since Elon Musk purchased The local weather on X has develop into “increasingly harsh and extreme”.

The Swedish tabloid “Aftonbladet” has been not on X since final yr, and the general public radio station SR is not there both. In Austria, journalists, together with celebrities with high-reach accounts equivalent to ORF presenter Armin Wolf and “Falter” editor-in-chief Florian Klenk, determined in a concerted marketing campaign beneath the rubric “#eXit” to show their backs on the platform and to Bluesky to change.

Some come, others go, others keep (based on the FAZ). And within the USA it may be noticed that corporations are more and more promoting on X. Their calculation is more likely to be to do effectively with the digital political complicated that Trump and Musk have constructed up. The potential to destroy democracy was already evident in the course of the election marketing campaign. Elon Musk’s statements had an excellent higher attain than they already had as a result of – based on the belief based mostly on information evaluation – the X algorithm was programmed accordingly.

The Australians Timothy Graham from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane and Mark Andrejevic from Monash University in Melbourne examined Elon Musk’s Republicans and Democrats. In mid-July of this yr, Graham and Andrejevic write of their paper, there was a “structural shift” at X. There can also be a deadline: July 13, 2024, which was the day Elon Musk introduced that he was supporting Donald Trump. After that, the researchers stated, the visibility of Musk’s tweets elevated by 138.7 p.c. And Republican accounts additionally elevated considerably in attain. This suggests the “possibility,” Graham and Andrejevic rigorously formulate, that we’re coping with “an algorithmic prioritization.” X positively has a facet for the Republicans, the platform already had that earlier than.

But that is just one facet of the coin. The media autocracy that Donald Trump is constructing with the assistance of Elon Musk can also be based mostly on a march by his followers by way of the establishments. On the one hand, there are presenters from the right-wing broadcaster Fox News who’re presupposed to develop into ministers – Pete Hegseth Defense Minister, Sean Duffy Transport Minister. And alternatively, the beforehand unbiased media regulatory authority Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will probably be given a Trump hardliner in Brendan Carr, who makes it clear even earlier than he turns into head of workplace (Carr has been a member of the FCC board since 2017) what to anticipate from him. “Big Tech,” Carr wrote on X, has “silenced people” just because they wished to train their proper to free speech. “The censorship cartel” have to be “dismantled and destroyed.”

And, because the American press studies, Carr additionally wrote to the heads of the “censorship cartel.” In a letter, he’s stated to accuse Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Satya Nadella of Microsoft of being liable for “censorship”. The Americans have “experienced an unprecedented increase in censorship” and their firms “played an important role” on this.

Carr does not depend Platform Carr’s technique of energy, in flip, must be of use to Musk. The FCC awards broadcasting licenses and subsidies, for instance for broadband enlargement, which Musk has already campaigned for.

So one hand washes the opposite. Saying goodbye to However, this can solely have an effect if there’s a main flip away from Musk’s manipulation machine and platforms like Bluesky or Mastodon develop into much more common than prior to now few weeks, wherein Bluesky specifically has grown. Contrary to what Robert Habeck thinks, nobody makes this determination “easy”.