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   Reed Mideke (reedmideke@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 06:14:22 JST Reed Mideke

   • Drew Harwell

   That @drewharwell piece on right wing accounts getting more engagement noted they couldn't determine why (likely no coincidence that Musk has made it much harder for third parties to analyze) but it does seem like the blue check grifters skewing right could be a big part of it, even with an algorithm that's nominally neutral. Paid accounts get a boost, and the people willing to pay Musk certainly seem more likely to engage with RW content

   https://wapo.st/4hnPXAJ

   #GiftArticle #GiftLink

   • Embed this notice
     Reed Mideke (reedmideke@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 06:14:22 JST Reed Mideke

     in reply to

     IANAL, but I'm not convinced "no it's not an illegal lottery, we actually just deceived the public into thinking it was random" is going to end up being a great defense

     Presumably, the strategy is mainly to run out the clock with any eventual fines just being another cost for the PAC to cover, but it seems like they're inviting Krasner to pile on some kind of fraud or deceptive practices allegation
     
     https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-weighs-challenge-elon-musks-1-million-voter-giveaway-2024-11-04/

   • Embed this notice
     Reed Mideke (reedmideke@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 06:14:22 JST Reed Mideke

     in reply to

     Just gonna here this here to age in light of jackass' recent appointment

   • Embed this notice
     Reed Mideke (reedmideke@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 06:14:22 JST Reed Mideke

     in reply to

     Branded "a 'Manhattan Project’ for cutting spending and regulation" which I dunno guys, the Manhattan Project was many things, but being a model of efficient, limited government and free enterprise would not be on the top of my list

   • Embed this notice
     Reed Mideke (reedmideke@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 06:14:22 JST Reed Mideke

     in reply to

     As noted by Matt McDermott (https://x.com/mattmfm/status/1858321528061829365) Elon's pretend department DOGE account is labeled as a verified government agency, despite you know, not being officially created by any government yet

     Mike Masnick ✅ repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Reed Mideke (reedmideke@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 06:14:22 JST Reed Mideke

     in reply to

     • Mike Masnick ✅

     Whole twitter files thing was obviously garbage at the time, but @mmasnick's contrast with where things stand now is particularly brutal
     "Before, we were told that White House officials’ merely reaching out to social media companies about election misinformation was a democracy-ending threat. Now, the world’s richest man has openly used his platform to boost one candidate, ridden that campaign’s success into the White House himself, and … crickets"
     https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-musk-partnership-x-twitter-files-rcna180427