Musk Is Building a Wall

... and he's making Saudi Arabia and Qatar pay for it

The least shocking thing the world’s richest exploding carmaker did today was show up in Qatar with slumlord-millionare-turned-Saudi-butcher-enabler Jared Kushner to watch the World Cup Final.

Perhaps because Twitter keeps swerving into oncoming traffic even more than a Tesla in self-driving mode, neither Musk nor his human rights-violating investors looked too happy to be hanging out together.

Meanwhile back at Twitter HQ, the fast-imploding hellsite announced a new set of rules designed to turn what Musk once imagined as a “digital town square” into a high-security prison.

Not content with falsely designating links to Twitter’s rapidly growing open-source rival Mastodon as “malware,” Musk today announced confusing new rules that ban “promotion of specific social media platforms on Twitter… at both the Tweet level and the account level.”

No more “follow me on Facebook.”

No more “join me on Mastodon.”

No more “see link in bio.”

Here’s what the new rules say:

And here are the punishments for breaking them:

Reaction on Twitter was swift and harsh:

Summer Lopez, Chief Program Officer, Free Expression at PENAmerica tweeted:

Summer Lopez @summerelopez

Twitter has always been far from perfect, to say the least. But it’s also been a vital source of free and open information for people around the world. Musk seems utterly oblivious to that, focused only on protecting his own interests. https://t.co/N81R5f6xyu

Twitter Support @TwitterSupport

We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.

Nora Benavidez, Senior Counsel/Director, Digital Justice & Civil Rights@freepress tweeted:

Nora Benavidez @AttorneyNora

What in the actual authoritarian hell. https://t.co/BCVfAIwCh1

Twitter Support @TwitterSupport

We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.

John Scott-Railton, Sr. Researcher @citizenlab, tweeted:

John Scott-Railton @jsrailton

If you have to build a wall to keep people from leaving, you're the one failing.

Twitter Support @TwitterSupport

We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.

And followed up with Musk’s own words from June:

John Scott-Railton @jsrailton

But don't take my word for it...

Since I discussed the wisdom of “Staying or Going” with @LOLGOP earlier this week, I’ve already launched (perhaps just in time) my @TheDailyEdge account on Mastodon.

You can follow me there at: https://universeodon.com/@TheDailyEdge.

Meanwhile, let’s see how long keeping my own “link in bio” on Twitter allows me to survive on Twitter.