Elon Musk is doing exactly what John Roberts and the Supreme Court told him he could do. When scotus declared money speech, they told all the lying, cheating mostly white male wealthy they could do and say whatever they want because all is legal if you have the money to make it happen. Musk lies and cheats his employees and will end up doing the same to Twitter and its users because that is what he does. Everyone who could challenge him is afraid that his money will speak louder than their rights and they will be brought down while Musk gets richer and even more powerful. It is time members of Congress get some courage and pass the billionaire tax bills NOW before those rich fools do even more damage, and they will if not stopped.
Robert you are right to call out Musk's contradictions and law breaking but ultimately if vast numbers of users subscribe to twitter for their news or alternative realities then short of an outright ban which would be unconstitutional and contrary to liberal values of open discussion the only other recourse is to using anti trust laws which were used to break the robber railroad barons of tge early 20th century.I am guessing that Elon has an ambition to merge his bitcoin interests with twitter and fuse platform technologies to create and control an alternative financial ecosystem that competes with the current global financial system.The sky is literally the limit of Musk's ambitions and currently it seems there's no stopping his super sized egotism.
The problems in America are not just about the voters. The bigger problems in my opinion are the leaders. President Biden is hell-bent on the election somehow making things right. But just as you are pointing out in this post, the game has changed and we need to remove the gloves and play hardball. Trump should be in prison or executed for treason along with his fellow traitors. If we fail to hold traitors accountable, we are losing and will lose our democracy. Watch closely Putin killing men,women and children while he attacks a sovereign country. This is one of trumps fascist idols. He obviously is not playing games and we should respond just the way we need to when we’re dealing with vicious traitors in our country. Our politicians need to get a set and get serious because the enemy is very serious and we are clearly at war
Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot stand this pompous and egotistical “American Oligarch”. When I learned in the paper that Musk had joined the board of directors and owned the largest share of Twitter it made me cringe. I never knew just how bad Musk is - I have found the likes of him, Trump & Putin so repulsive there is only so much I can read before my stomach turns. Once more, you have opened my eyes a bit wider.
Professor, IF I had a FB account or a Twitter account (or any other social media) I would spread your article on it like wildfire. For now I will do my best in helping the Dems prevail in November.
total hypocrite and a 5 star douchebag. the guy could use his platform as Tesla CEO to tout the progress of the company's leading role in transforming the auto sector from ICE to electric and how that helps combat climate change. instead we get his cypto bulls***t, look at me I'm a bad billionaire crap, and other public behaviors that belie a rotten, spoiled, and petulant human being beneath it all. I hope that Tesla workers unionize sooner than later, because they deserve the fruits of their labor, not this attention hogging wingnut. Dr. Reich, I deleted my twitter account years ago. I'd open a new one if you want the rest of us to troll him with "modern day robber barron", because if the glove fits.....
Thank-you, once again, for bringing the truth to us. I cannot tell you enough how much this means to me, and I am sure ,others. I am going to keep this short and sweet. If Elon Musk allows Trump to back on Twitter, I am closing my account there. Trumps dangerous rhetoric, heard previously, almost daily in tweets, mainstream news coverage, press releases and more was hateful free speech and I turned it off immediately every time it was on. I realize we do have the right to free speech but lies from demagogues walk a very fine line.
As I sit here and ponder how do you stop a power grabber when he has eluded all the barriers that control any aspect of billionaires. Not having to pay taxes , thumbing your nose at the law, and depicting Putin-Trump axiom as a plus makes me think he is setting himself up to rule the nation. My only hope is that some new rules can stop this attack from the ultra rich. Keep after them Robert Reich.
It is obvious he who controls the masses controls the world, and that is the whole purpose, to have people following him to lure them to his products. Now, the ultimate responsibility does not seat with this thing, for lack of better description, but with those who follow him. The 80 mill that are blind to his atrocious use of resources, the waste of earth, as if he was to live 80 mill years. The ego that fuels on the Twitter comments and absurd values of those that follow him is what he needs for what is a billionaire without praise and more people to subjugate? Now he will change the Twitter game to make more of the Twitter subscribers follow him and make more blood money and have yet a more inflated ego to continue doing his predatory enrichment and abuse of earths resources without a force to stop him. But, he is not solely to be blamed for it, but also the rest of us who have failed to stop him.
“ Musk advocates free speech but in reality it’s just about power.” Why in the world should an individual be compelled to allow anybody and everybody to contribute to his personal twitter stream?
I watched the PBS Ben Franklin documentary the other day, and thought, we could use a modern-day Franklin. Immediately I thought of Musk. But Franklin believed in God (not like his Puritan parents though) and virtue and other Enlightenment VALUES, did not work for profit after retiring from his printing business at (I think) 42. All his inventions were for the common good, and he actually refused to copyright them when pressed. Elon Musk seemed to want to save the world with his Mars project, at least from a possible asteroid hitting the planet, but he’s grounded not in Enlightenment or original American values but in neoliberalism and libertarianism, both of which completely fail to value the ideals required for democracy—the common good and equality, the importance of the law in sustaining these things, the relationship between government and freedom. In other words, perhaps Elon Musk could use a little more holistic, liberal arts (self-)education. He put Adam Smith on his Twitter reading list, but clearly missed the significant moral dimension of that Enlightenment economist’s theories, like his concern for the poor and justice, which Amartya Sen has pointed to in Smith. Mostly, I wish Musk would put his money (all of it) into solving the climate crisis if he wants to save the world. Nobody actually wants to live on Mars. But American democracy is failing us because I don’t get a say in where all his multi-billions go. If he were alive today, I’m pretty sure Ben Franklin would have paid his fair share of taxes, and wouldn’t have been greedy enough to acquire that much wealth in the first place.
Please forgive what may seem like cynicism... but there are people who think something less than the world of Twitter - and for good reason: it is... difficult... to find much merit in a platform which enables speech only to bring out the absolute worst in its users (and especially when one has memory of the pre-Twitter Internet & has watched its popularity grow oh-so-recklessly!)...
In short: when the singular representative of your founder's sentiment is a message saying "Delete your account!" the rest of what has been called "free speech" follows; the fact that almost no one mentions the original intent of "dispatch" messages being used for machines to talk to other machines should give pause to anyone overthinking the idea of shouting through Twitter's coffee straw.
PS: Sorry to hear about the blocked connection; when my sister does such things (and then doesn't undo them - whether she was mistaken or otherwise) it's proved necessary to (as a 40-year-old adult) tell on her; though parents can prove altogether unhelpful with respect to such things (loving both their children equally, regardless of fault), they certainly aren't impressed as a result. (The next step would - presumably - be having her friends shame her back into her senses... but successful business people keep such busy schedules & are rarely available!)
Mr. Reich, I hope you can answer the following question: Section 230 renders social media unaccountable for what is posted on their platforms. But, does Section 230 protect the algorithms? Does 230 give social media the right to influence what is promoted (retweeted, liked, shared, etc) on these platforms?
As for Elon Musk and his newfound power on Twitter, the bigger question is, will the rest of the board bow to his wishes or will they act as a check on his power? Isn't that the reason boards even exist?
Elon Musk is doing exactly what John Roberts and the Supreme Court told him he could do. When scotus declared money speech, they told all the lying, cheating mostly white male wealthy they could do and say whatever they want because all is legal if you have the money to make it happen. Musk lies and cheats his employees and will end up doing the same to Twitter and its users because that is what he does. Everyone who could challenge him is afraid that his money will speak louder than their rights and they will be brought down while Musk gets richer and even more powerful. It is time members of Congress get some courage and pass the billionaire tax bills NOW before those rich fools do even more damage, and they will if not stopped.
Robert you are right to call out Musk's contradictions and law breaking but ultimately if vast numbers of users subscribe to twitter for their news or alternative realities then short of an outright ban which would be unconstitutional and contrary to liberal values of open discussion the only other recourse is to using anti trust laws which were used to break the robber railroad barons of tge early 20th century.I am guessing that Elon has an ambition to merge his bitcoin interests with twitter and fuse platform technologies to create and control an alternative financial ecosystem that competes with the current global financial system.The sky is literally the limit of Musk's ambitions and currently it seems there's no stopping his super sized egotism.
The problems in America are not just about the voters. The bigger problems in my opinion are the leaders. President Biden is hell-bent on the election somehow making things right. But just as you are pointing out in this post, the game has changed and we need to remove the gloves and play hardball. Trump should be in prison or executed for treason along with his fellow traitors. If we fail to hold traitors accountable, we are losing and will lose our democracy. Watch closely Putin killing men,women and children while he attacks a sovereign country. This is one of trumps fascist idols. He obviously is not playing games and we should respond just the way we need to when we’re dealing with vicious traitors in our country. Our politicians need to get a set and get serious because the enemy is very serious and we are clearly at war
Per Reuters this morning: “ Twitter says billionaire Musk not joining its board, warns of 'distractions ahead'” So one power grab averted.
Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot stand this pompous and egotistical “American Oligarch”. When I learned in the paper that Musk had joined the board of directors and owned the largest share of Twitter it made me cringe. I never knew just how bad Musk is - I have found the likes of him, Trump & Putin so repulsive there is only so much I can read before my stomach turns. Once more, you have opened my eyes a bit wider.
Professor, IF I had a FB account or a Twitter account (or any other social media) I would spread your article on it like wildfire. For now I will do my best in helping the Dems prevail in November.
🌻
total hypocrite and a 5 star douchebag. the guy could use his platform as Tesla CEO to tout the progress of the company's leading role in transforming the auto sector from ICE to electric and how that helps combat climate change. instead we get his cypto bulls***t, look at me I'm a bad billionaire crap, and other public behaviors that belie a rotten, spoiled, and petulant human being beneath it all. I hope that Tesla workers unionize sooner than later, because they deserve the fruits of their labor, not this attention hogging wingnut. Dr. Reich, I deleted my twitter account years ago. I'd open a new one if you want the rest of us to troll him with "modern day robber barron", because if the glove fits.....
Thank-you, once again, for bringing the truth to us. I cannot tell you enough how much this means to me, and I am sure ,others. I am going to keep this short and sweet. If Elon Musk allows Trump to back on Twitter, I am closing my account there. Trumps dangerous rhetoric, heard previously, almost daily in tweets, mainstream news coverage, press releases and more was hateful free speech and I turned it off immediately every time it was on. I realize we do have the right to free speech but lies from demagogues walk a very fine line.
As I sit here and ponder how do you stop a power grabber when he has eluded all the barriers that control any aspect of billionaires. Not having to pay taxes , thumbing your nose at the law, and depicting Putin-Trump axiom as a plus makes me think he is setting himself up to rule the nation. My only hope is that some new rules can stop this attack from the ultra rich. Keep after them Robert Reich.
I hate to generalize, but are American oligarchs any different than Russian oligarchs? Maybe some are....
There are a lot of Teslas in our neighborhood. I should applaud. But then I cringe.
It is obvious he who controls the masses controls the world, and that is the whole purpose, to have people following him to lure them to his products. Now, the ultimate responsibility does not seat with this thing, for lack of better description, but with those who follow him. The 80 mill that are blind to his atrocious use of resources, the waste of earth, as if he was to live 80 mill years. The ego that fuels on the Twitter comments and absurd values of those that follow him is what he needs for what is a billionaire without praise and more people to subjugate? Now he will change the Twitter game to make more of the Twitter subscribers follow him and make more blood money and have yet a more inflated ego to continue doing his predatory enrichment and abuse of earths resources without a force to stop him. But, he is not solely to be blamed for it, but also the rest of us who have failed to stop him.
Thank goodness he wasn’t born in the US and can’t run for president.
“ Musk advocates free speech but in reality it’s just about power.” Why in the world should an individual be compelled to allow anybody and everybody to contribute to his personal twitter stream?
I watched the PBS Ben Franklin documentary the other day, and thought, we could use a modern-day Franklin. Immediately I thought of Musk. But Franklin believed in God (not like his Puritan parents though) and virtue and other Enlightenment VALUES, did not work for profit after retiring from his printing business at (I think) 42. All his inventions were for the common good, and he actually refused to copyright them when pressed. Elon Musk seemed to want to save the world with his Mars project, at least from a possible asteroid hitting the planet, but he’s grounded not in Enlightenment or original American values but in neoliberalism and libertarianism, both of which completely fail to value the ideals required for democracy—the common good and equality, the importance of the law in sustaining these things, the relationship between government and freedom. In other words, perhaps Elon Musk could use a little more holistic, liberal arts (self-)education. He put Adam Smith on his Twitter reading list, but clearly missed the significant moral dimension of that Enlightenment economist’s theories, like his concern for the poor and justice, which Amartya Sen has pointed to in Smith. Mostly, I wish Musk would put his money (all of it) into solving the climate crisis if he wants to save the world. Nobody actually wants to live on Mars. But American democracy is failing us because I don’t get a say in where all his multi-billions go. If he were alive today, I’m pretty sure Ben Franklin would have paid his fair share of taxes, and wouldn’t have been greedy enough to acquire that much wealth in the first place.
Please forgive what may seem like cynicism... but there are people who think something less than the world of Twitter - and for good reason: it is... difficult... to find much merit in a platform which enables speech only to bring out the absolute worst in its users (and especially when one has memory of the pre-Twitter Internet & has watched its popularity grow oh-so-recklessly!)...
In short: when the singular representative of your founder's sentiment is a message saying "Delete your account!" the rest of what has been called "free speech" follows; the fact that almost no one mentions the original intent of "dispatch" messages being used for machines to talk to other machines should give pause to anyone overthinking the idea of shouting through Twitter's coffee straw.
PS: Sorry to hear about the blocked connection; when my sister does such things (and then doesn't undo them - whether she was mistaken or otherwise) it's proved necessary to (as a 40-year-old adult) tell on her; though parents can prove altogether unhelpful with respect to such things (loving both their children equally, regardless of fault), they certainly aren't impressed as a result. (The next step would - presumably - be having her friends shame her back into her senses... but successful business people keep such busy schedules & are rarely available!)
Mr. Reich, I hope you can answer the following question: Section 230 renders social media unaccountable for what is posted on their platforms. But, does Section 230 protect the algorithms? Does 230 give social media the right to influence what is promoted (retweeted, liked, shared, etc) on these platforms?
As for Elon Musk and his newfound power on Twitter, the bigger question is, will the rest of the board bow to his wishes or will they act as a check on his power? Isn't that the reason boards even exist?