Carole Cadwalladr, The Guardian: We're living in a different reality now. One in which the billionaires have been unchained.
I think the upcoming DNC is ripe for this type of disinformation campaign as thousands gather outside of the covention to protest what is happening in Gaza:
How a few Twitter posts on Elon Musk's X helped fan the flames of unrest and rioting across the UKwww.independent.co.uk
Social networks can't be blamed for violence, experts say " but they do have a key role in spreading the narratives that allow it to happen
Even before much at all was known about the killings in Southport, online speculation had began. Much of it was false: posts about the attacker's name, and supposed Muslim identity, were trending long before people could know the actual facts.
But they had already done what they needed to. A vast and violent far-right response had been mobilised, and almost a week later has seen towns across the country overtaken by violent riots and disorder. . . .
A large part of the inflammatory misinformation flared up on X, the social media site that is now owned by Elon Musk. In the time since he bought what was then called Twitter, at the end of 2022, both the site and his personal account have been repeatedly criticised for allowing both false and dangerous content to flourish.
Social networks have long built their systems to encourage engagement, which helps bring money, and inflammatory and antagonistic posts have long been a quick way to encourage that engagement. But experts agree that it is very unlikely that misinformation would have spread in the same way as it has done on the old Twitter, before Mr Musk took it over..
We arleady know that Musk bought Twitter in order to help Trump win the 2024 election and with less than 3 months to go until election day, it seems likely that Musk and Trump will be looking to capitlalize on any news story--real or imagined--that involves violence, Muslims and/or immigrants and will attempt to tie that violence to Democrats in general and Harris in particular. Musk is likely to get personally involved as is, of course, Trump who is now back on X:
Elon Musk just can't help himself.www.emptywheel.net
The billionaire X owner sparked fury in the British government this weekend after he responded to incendiary footage of the far-right disorder that's sweeping the country by saying "civil war is inevitable."
The post on X was roundly condemned by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office, which said there was "no justification" for Musk's comments.
But Musk doubled, tripled, then quadrupled down after that dig. Responding to a statement from Starmer vowing his government would "not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities," the X boss effectively accused the British prime minister of wearing blinkers. "Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on all communities?" Policing of the unrest "does seem one-sided," he offered in a third post.
He then branded Starmer "#twotierkeir" " riffing on a popular far-right talking point that British police treat disorder by white people differently to that by perpetrated by minorities. Justice Minister Heidi Alexander called Musk "deplorable."
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