Why Not X?

I no longer have a Twitter account, either professional or private, and will not be getting an X account to replace it. Why is a complicated story, one that involves both personal opinions and choices as well as more professional and (hopefully) rational concerns. The latter are also a matter of opinion and choice, of course. Allow me to explain -- I will begin with my personal opinions, as a way of establishing my positionality, and then move to the professional concerns I have. You can skip this whole thing if you just want my social media link: you can find me on Mastodon.

Of course, the main problem I have with X is its acquisition by a sole owner. I am not a fan of the new owner, who seems to me to desire a cult of personality around his rather dubious business and technological achievements. Whether or not he can take credit for either has been litigated in other forums, and I will not bore you with  my opinions on the matter other than to say that I think his accomplishments and talents have been inflated far beyond their true worth. You can make your own decisions about that, and while I may disagree, I will respect them. I also find his increasing political affiliation with groups that have little to no respect for democracy or the cooperative ethics necessary for human society both troubling and problematic given his own personal history and clear desire for social power. This, of course, is a personal opinion, but it is one that has everything to do with why I no longer have a personal account on Twitter and very much informs my decision to also abandon my professional account.

But in the matter of the ownership of a platform that he claims is to serve as a public square and a bastion of free speech, I think that individual ownership entails very specific and serious problems. Individuals defining the boundaries of free speech -- and every person I know of, including the current owner of X, has some boundaries -- will always eventually put those boundaries in places that are convenient to their own interests, no matter their impact on others. The current owner has made this clear in banning accounts personally embarrassing to himself or potentially intrusive into his own privacy while affording no such protections to others. Indeed, he has even made it clear that he supports and celebrates embarrassing those with whom he disagrees politically, and has shown little concern about the privacy of those who are not powerful enough to make problems for him or his company. Public ownership of such a company (via an open market in shares, not via government ownership) provides safeguards in the form of liability to a large pool of public investors and via legal liability exposure to that same pool's investment. Publicly-traded companies can establish large, inclusive bodies that protect the greater interest in providing reasonable limits for content while still maximizing platform access to maximize profits. Privately-held companies are subject to the whims of an individual; even if you perfectly agree with the opinions of the  current owner, there is no guarantee that the next owner will provide the same policies and methods of decision-making.

However, the problem with a profit-driven social media company -- whether publicly or privately held, as it has become all too clear -- is that it must constantly work to drive profits and engagement. The decisions and algorithms of such companies has also made it clear that the most profitable way of doing so is to exacerbate divisions to feed the ever-clickable outrage machine and to allow any opinion , no matter how ludicrous or injurious to the public good -- flat eartherism, vaccine denialism, and the like -- right up to the edge of the currently acceptable norms, to have a platform. Not only does this lead to problems with public understanding of basic facts and the destruction of community values, but the emphasis on engagement and influence has real, harmful effects on the mental health of the users of such social media. My time at Twitter was coming to an end even before it became the privately-held company X.

This all leads directly to my professional concerns. X's current management has made it clear that verification is for sale. This is a recipe for the spread of misinformation, as has already been widely demonstrated by both targeted and merely prankish actions on the platform. Moreover, the ability to spread sound theory and information on X and similar platforms is radically undermined by algorithmic concerns for popularity instead of for evidence. X, in particular, has even blocked authoritative, public services accounts for no obvious reason. The platform no longer provides any real accountability and helps to platform anti-intellectual and anti-free-press exercises. It is not an appropriate place for those interested in the free exchange of credible information, or in promoting evidence-based or peer-reviewed academic work.

This is why I have now opted for the Mastodon social network, both for my professional and personal social media presence. Mastodon and its servers intentionally de-escalate the fame- and popularity-based designs of other social media. Again, others have explained how they do this in more detail and more clearly than I am able to do here, so I recommend using your favorite search engine to find explanations. It is also entirely open-source, so it does not have to feed the beast of driving engagement, of shilling for corporate sponsors, or of selling your information for profit. Since servers are run by individuals, some have more restrictive rules for content and some have no protections at all, but there is a core federation of servers (encompassing most of the Mastodon universe) that have agreed on content freedoms and restrictions that seem reasonable to me (and many others). There are lots of other benefits to Mastodon, as well. You can find out more at the official Mastodon site or Wired magazine's great introduction to Mastodon (including both why it might be a better social media experience and info and tips on how to get started). There's also a great help and tips page ranging from "for beginners" to advanced tips and guides for specific actions.

So, join me, won't you, on Mastodon!