RichVR
1880
Come on shitgibbon, you know you have a massive tweet building up for this.
Menzo
1881
LOL I was wondering when the first right-wingers would start shouting about liberal bias when Twitter bans ALL political advertising. Hilarious.
Nesrie
1882
They don’t care if it’s ALL when it’s really one that has a massive misinformation campaign going on all the time.
Put me down as cautiously optimistic. This sounds really good, a logical first step to limiting the reach of bad players in political social media and especially in curtailing foreign influence. The policy has yet to be defined though, and I’m worried that they could extend it to target accounts that do good as well, limiting the spread of real and useful information and the organization of groups in places like Hong Kong where social media plays a huge role in organized protests and resistance.
Yeah, while the banning of political ads is great, the obvious workaround is paid “influencers.” I think Twitter will be stuck in a baby/bathwater situation if they try overly hard to get rid of them.
What paid political influencers are there that aren’t already doing the devil’s work on their own dime? So now someone pays Ben Shapiro to go online and be a dick? He’s already doing that!
Not just Ben Shapiro, but this isn’t new; paid influencers have been a thing for a while. What I mean is the marketing budget which had been dedicated to spending on Twitter can now be redirected to more “influencers” (artificial and otherwise) so the presence of their message (whatever it may be) on the platform isn’t as diminished as we might hope.
Timex
1887
But ben shapiro won’t show up in my feed as a promoted tweet.
I know influencers have been and are a thing. I just mean if Ben Shapiro now gets paid for being a dick, how is it different than it has been? Hey, Ben used to be an idiot but now that he’s an influencer, he’s less of one?
I’ll continue to ignore him.
That’s the thing. Ads can appear anywhere. Ben Shapiro I only see if someone quotes him. So I think the policy change is a good one and will make a difference – perhaps minor, but a difference nonetheless.
What I’m curious about is who thought calling social media personalities “influencers” was a good idea that totally wouldn’t sound like the brain-washing that it is (although some is just about normal brand marketing).
I suppose we should be thankful for the honesty, at least.
It’s been a thing in radio for a long time. The DJ will often talk about a product he’s used and likes. He’s being paid to do so but he makes it sound more natural, and it’s longer than 60 seconds. It’s pretty transparent in radio that he’s being paid, maybe not so much on Youtube.
Radio is mostly local. Online is world-wide. The potential money’s bigger.
Well, I ignore ads on Twitter. So what are we talking about, then?
Exactly. Influencers rely on followers, which means you have to actively choose to see what they’re saying, or choose to follow people who would retweet it. It’s the foundation upon which social media is built, so there’s no changing that. Paid advertisements are different because Twitter and Facebook are literally being paid to put those posts into your feed, regardless of what you like/follow/promote yourself. Having those posts gone is going to be a godsend for the average person.
I would actually argue (as much as I’d hate myself for it) that the accounts of the Ben Shapiro’s of Twitter should be left alone (assuming they stay within the bounds of the platform’s user agreement). We shouldn’t be looking to twist social media rules to silence these people, we should be using the power of social media to drown them out in a sea of dissenting voices. I think that’s happening already any time you look at a Trump tweet or many of the tweets from GOP assclowns, the responses are a handful of “You’re the best, MAGA!” and a torrent of “go fuck yourself” and hilarious mocking memes. The removal of paid advertisements and obvious political foreign bot accounts only accelerates this process.
Timex
1893
Fun fact:
If you block every single person or company that sends you a promoted tweet, you start getting weird stuff as promoted tweets.
Timex
1895
The Federalist is basically an anthology of bad takes on everything.
ShivaX
1896
Who hasn’t murdered their own father for no reason?
I can’t decide what is a better use of my time? Worrying about the moral fate of Kylo Ren or squeezing in a few more Duolingo Klingon lessons?
Menzo
1898
Any other questions about why Facebook has yet to find its moral compass?
