On October 27, it will be exactly one year since Elon Musk bought Twitter, which has since become X.com. For the occasion, a collective of specialists in the fight against disinformation is proposing a boycott of the platform for 24 hours.
Could #NoTwitterDay become a major national holiday? The signatories of a column published in The world October 23, 2023 hope so. Journalists, researchers, streamers, comedians… In all, 28 public figures (mainly from the media world) are calling for a general boycott of the microblogging platform on October 27.
The goal ? Fight against the hegemony of a platform which only offers a “exceptional flow of disinformation”, according to the signatories.
A “tweet strike”
The date is obviously not chosen at random. October 27 marks, for those who still remember, the moment when Elon Musk officially took over the site that was still called Twitter, and not X.com. It was the day the South African businessman entered the company’s premises, a sink in his hands and a political project in mind.
Regretting that the new CEO “stands out for its strong support of discredited and dangerous conspiracy theories“, the forum calls for expressing its dissatisfaction with “a twenty-four hour tweet strike“. In reality more than a simple strike, the signatories advise not to connect to the site at all on October 27 to show one’s commitment.for a respectful platform, facts and the dignity of people“.
And why not more than 24 hours?
Could the initiative scare Elon Musk? Everything really depends on its scale, but the Franco-French side of the maneuver does not encourage optimism at the moment. Even in France, the movement would need to be massively followed to have an impact.
More than a strike of isolated users, the entire media should also get involved. An idea not entirely credible at the moment, as the platform, despite its ocean of problems, remains a privileged place to follow continuous information, whether on the conflict in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war or the captures position of the political world.
Indeed, for the moment, no alternative has managed to emerge in the face of X.com. Bluesky seems to be on the rise, but remains only available by invitation, which mechanically reduces its number of users. As for Mastodon, after promising waves of migration during the takeover by Elon Musk, the platform has not become a real alternative to Twitter due to the absence of “big” accounts capable of tipping the scales.
A massive strike, however, could illustrate how X.com’s importance has declined in recent years. The audience sent to media sites has only fallen according to the decisions made by Elon Musk. More generally, in France, traffic on Twitter has fallen by 13.4% over the past year, according to a recent study by SimilarWeb. It might be time to re-examine the place taken by Twitter in French media life, but probably for more than 24 hours.
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- Remuneration for accounts generating enough engagement
- “Super application” ambition
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X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social media platform that has undergone a major transformation. It is now designed to be a “super app”, offering a range of services well beyond simple messaging.
X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social media platform that has undergone a major transformation. It is now designed to be a “super app”, offering a range of services well beyond simple messaging.
Source : The world
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