The Twitter Files: How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate(twitter.com)
twitter.com
The Twitter Files: How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate
https://twitter.com/davidzweig/status/1607378386338340867
97 comments
The old Twitter agrees with you. Rather than give in to
every request, they considered them on a case by case basis, looks like (TFA): https://mobile.twitter.com/davidzweig/status/160738401573188...
> This tweet was labeled “Misleading,”
https://twitter.com/davidzweig/status/1607388794772242437?s=...
Because it was misleading, putting it in quotes implies that it wasn't
> Editor’s Note: Readers are alerted that the conclusions of this article are subject to criticisms that are being considered by the Editors. A further editorial response will follow once all parties have been given an opportunity to respond in full.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10928-z
Because it was misleading, putting it in quotes implies that it wasn't
> Editor’s Note: Readers are alerted that the conclusions of this article are subject to criticisms that are being considered by the Editors. A further editorial response will follow once all parties have been given an opportunity to respond in full.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10928-z
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The thing is, these tweets are misinformation, presenting cherry-picked studies (which even have editors notes about validity attached) out of context and ignoring ones that don’t fit the narrative.
To me, labelling them as misleading is exactly the right call and in my experience this has also happened to Tweets where pro-vaccine data was cherry picked.
I feel like people from both sides simply do not follow each other, and so they only see flagging of “their own” people and assume that they are targeted.
To me, labelling them as misleading is exactly the right call and in my experience this has also happened to Tweets where pro-vaccine data was cherry picked.
I feel like people from both sides simply do not follow each other, and so they only see flagging of “their own” people and assume that they are targeted.
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Sorry, but no. If a Harvard epidemiologist comes to another conclusion that the White House finds inconvenient for its mass-vaxxing campaign, that is not "misinformation". That is called research.
No again. That Harvard epidemiologist speaking in an offhand way made it seem as though the only people who needed to take the vaccine were the elderly and their caretakers, which is emphatically untrue.
What he likely meant, though didn't communicate, was that only people with prior natural infection need not take it.
But even that is misinformation, though it might be his professional opinion. If it is his professional opinion, it verges on malpractice, because it was indeterminate at the time to what degree a natural infection destroyed immune memory cells. We have later found evidence that severe covid-19 cases do in fact disrupt immune memory [1]. This is a thing he should know to be wary of, as measles famously erases huge swathes of immune memory.
This in addition to the systemic effects of huge spikes leading to moderate to severe cases going without proper care as a result of a squeeze on resources...
It was a bad take, and everyone reading it should have been told it was a bad take.
[1] https://news.uthscsa.edu/immune-memory-less-durable-after-se...
What he likely meant, though didn't communicate, was that only people with prior natural infection need not take it.
But even that is misinformation, though it might be his professional opinion. If it is his professional opinion, it verges on malpractice, because it was indeterminate at the time to what degree a natural infection destroyed immune memory cells. We have later found evidence that severe covid-19 cases do in fact disrupt immune memory [1]. This is a thing he should know to be wary of, as measles famously erases huge swathes of immune memory.
This in addition to the systemic effects of huge spikes leading to moderate to severe cases going without proper care as a result of a squeeze on resources...
It was a bad take, and everyone reading it should have been told it was a bad take.
[1] https://news.uthscsa.edu/immune-memory-less-durable-after-se...
People forget about those days. We used to get daily news about % of ICU capacity left. Videos of people on respirators. We didn’t knew what this virus was. How bad things can go? Streets in China getting piled up with bodies in bags. People complaining that US govt is not as effective as Chinese. People worried about covid deniers, mask opposition. Entire Twitter population updating their profiles with masks. Fear of long covid. News of unknown impact on kids. No one knew how things would turn out. Most believed that that wasn’t time for debate because there was simply no data. People can argue either way and there will be always groups latching on other side. We needed unity and caution until we figured things out. That’s how efforts against covid misinformation started. In retrospect, it looks like suppression of freedom of speech. It wasn’t until vaccines came out and multiple dosages freed us. Now we look back and worry about that suppression of speech issue and packaging it up politically. I am not on either side but I think based on data we had, lack of vaccines and possibly safety issue for entire populations, people had to do what they had to. I don’t think their actions were politically motivated or ill-intended.
Imo, this is a critical discussion to have. While I have strong opinions that are confirmed by this cut of the story, is there a take that is thoughtful that is better than "it was an emergency, misleading people to ultimately do the right thing was the ethical decision," or is that truly the best rationale for how the platforms and governments handled the pandemic response?
It's a critical discussion because right now, it really, really looks like a cadre of people actuated by having power over others (instead of the freedom to build and create by themselves) have co-ordinated through NGOs, operating on compromised institutions and platforms, to deceive the western world into removing all limits to state intervention and protections for basic human dignity and liberty, and to leverage the crisis to ensconce new powers.
The people of the world need to be shown how we were not deceived and betrayed. I don't know how long the window of opportunity for truth and reconciliation will last.
It's a critical discussion because right now, it really, really looks like a cadre of people actuated by having power over others (instead of the freedom to build and create by themselves) have co-ordinated through NGOs, operating on compromised institutions and platforms, to deceive the western world into removing all limits to state intervention and protections for basic human dignity and liberty, and to leverage the crisis to ensconce new powers.
The people of the world need to be shown how we were not deceived and betrayed. I don't know how long the window of opportunity for truth and reconciliation will last.
Kids need routine and social interaction with their peers and teachers.
Keeping them cooked up at home for years is a lot more damaging than a cold. Like immeasurably bad idea.
They never closed down schools (except for universities) in Sweden for this reason. They also never forced masks or curfews. The main thing that they did was to limit inside capacity to 50 people max for restaurants and other avenues.
There were groups of people who would protest that the government should be enforcing masks, basically full reverse of what people were protesting in all other places around the world.
Keeping them cooked up at home for years is a lot more damaging than a cold. Like immeasurably bad idea.
They never closed down schools (except for universities) in Sweden for this reason. They also never forced masks or curfews. The main thing that they did was to limit inside capacity to 50 people max for restaurants and other avenues.
There were groups of people who would protest that the government should be enforcing masks, basically full reverse of what people were protesting in all other places around the world.
> Keeping them cooked up at home for years is a lot more damaging than a cold.
I wonder if the debate was stifled because of reductionist comments like this. COVID-19 is far more serious than a cold. How can we be expected to have a real discussion about this topic when you either don’t understand or choose not to understand the difference between a cold and COVID?
I wonder if the debate was stifled because of reductionist comments like this. COVID-19 is far more serious than a cold. How can we be expected to have a real discussion about this topic when you either don’t understand or choose not to understand the difference between a cold and COVID?
This may be true, but doesn’t match many peoples direct experience. If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, don’t be surprised when people think it’s a duck
> ... but doesn’t match many peoples direct experience.
And that doesn't matter one bit, because their direct experience means nothing to the actual reality. Millions of people are dead and using one's own personal experience to pretend that it was actually no big deal is just willful ignorance.
And that doesn't matter one bit, because their direct experience means nothing to the actual reality. Millions of people are dead and using one's own personal experience to pretend that it was actually no big deal is just willful ignorance.
As you grow older and wiser, remember that you said this:
“Their direct experience means nothing to the actual reality.”
This is how the enlightenment ends, in a nutshell. Over-confident denial of reality, supported by misleading statistics and buggy models.
“Since we’re awash in this contemporary ocean of speculation, we forget that things can be known with certainty, and that we need not live in a fearful world of interminable unsupported opinion. But the gulf that separates hard fact from speculation is by now so unfamiliar that most people can’t comprehend it.” — Michael Crichton
“Their direct experience means nothing to the actual reality.”
This is how the enlightenment ends, in a nutshell. Over-confident denial of reality, supported by misleading statistics and buggy models.
“Since we’re awash in this contemporary ocean of speculation, we forget that things can be known with certainty, and that we need not live in a fearful world of interminable unsupported opinion. But the gulf that separates hard fact from speculation is by now so unfamiliar that most people can’t comprehend it.” — Michael Crichton
I think you will find they were saying that there were more than 6 million deaths from it globally so far and the fact that your personal experience with it wasn’t particularly serious isn’t a meaningful data point.
I’d also argue that a random quote from the author of Jurassic Park isn’t really moving the conversation forward.
I’d also argue that a random quote from the author of Jurassic Park isn’t really moving the conversation forward.
> Over-confident denial of reality, supported by misleading statistics
Sounds far far more like the people who think covid is nothing more than a cold.
Sounds far far more like the people who think covid is nothing more than a cold.
It's less than that for people with so called asymptomatic infections. The vast majority of people have had covid my now, and it wasn't much worse than a cold or flu.
In a naive population covid is far deadlier than the flu, let alone the common cold. During a Delta wave in NSW, Australia case hospitalisation rate peaked at 14%.
And at least in Australia the vast majority of cases of covid happened after people where vaccinated, so on a personal experience level that's why most didn't have a severe sickness from it.
And at least in Australia the vast majority of cases of covid happened after people where vaccinated, so on a personal experience level that's why most didn't have a severe sickness from it.
You actually believe that without question? Most people didn't have a severe reaction to it even before the vaccines. Only very old and very unhealthy people did.
6 million dead from a population of over 8 billion, and that took 3 years to happen.
Mortality rate of less than 0.03%.
Average age of death in the UK was 83 and with 2 or more comorbidities.
Completely overhyped.
Mortality rate of less than 0.03%.
Average age of death in the UK was 83 and with 2 or more comorbidities.
Completely overhyped.
I must say, COVID showed how many people didn't treat their bodies as their temples.
Many obese people and then you wonder why they can't fight this off. Now, the exception is the less common immune deficient people - that I understand but damn I know people who eat like utter rubbish
Many obese people and then you wonder why they can't fight this off. Now, the exception is the less common immune deficient people - that I understand but damn I know people who eat like utter rubbish
Compared to well under 50,000 flu deaths in that same period. So it's 100x deadlier than the flu.
In the UK they were carrying out over 1000 times the number of covid tests as flu tests. The false positives alone would have been more than the number of flu tests. Try looking at excess mortality compared to previous years for a more accurate picture. It was worse then preceding years, but less than 2003 and age adjusted less then 2008 in the UK.
Excess mortality would point to covid deaths as undercounted, not flu deaths. The best data I can find shows that covid was at least 10x worse than the worst flu season on record in the UK (2008).
How can you say that when we were only testing for one of them?
They changed the way they're counting deaths at least in the USA.
“Many people’s direct experience”
Those same “many people” are often quoted, often alluded to, and often used to ignore quantifiable facts.
Your direct experience does not negate my direct experience, and I’ve never experienced an otherwise healthy adult entering the hospital because of a bad case of the flu and dying. I cannot say the same for COVID.
While I agree that COVID may have been overblown in some respects, it was also politicized and in doing so a lot of FUD was spread. Which led to many people rejecting a vaccine that would have reduced the impact to not only themselves but the rest of the population around them.
Those same “many people” are often quoted, often alluded to, and often used to ignore quantifiable facts.
Your direct experience does not negate my direct experience, and I’ve never experienced an otherwise healthy adult entering the hospital because of a bad case of the flu and dying. I cannot say the same for COVID.
While I agree that COVID may have been overblown in some respects, it was also politicized and in doing so a lot of FUD was spread. Which led to many people rejecting a vaccine that would have reduced the impact to not only themselves but the rest of the population around them.
If a creature that quacks like a duck killed over 1000 children in less than 3 years(1) I would be surprised if people still treated it as a duck.
1) https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b...
1) https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b...
As someone who was vaccinated three times, obeyed quarantine and had a kid during the pandemic— I don’t think that stat is having the effect you intended.
Kids were relatively resilient from the virus.
Now addressing the logic in your response, are you suggesting we should have similar school shutdown measures for the flu every year? For a similar three year period influenza will kill 400-600 kids.
Kids were relatively resilient from the virus.
Now addressing the logic in your response, are you suggesting we should have similar school shutdown measures for the flu every year? For a similar three year period influenza will kill 400-600 kids.
I'm curious how this compares to other causes of deaths for kids under 18. I'm sure there have been more teen suicides, overdoses, accidents, and car accidents that tragically ended lives (about which the government largely does nothing, except for the National Suicide Hotline, which is important).
I'm pretty sure I caught COVID but thought I was constipated (suffer from that because I eat lots of tastey stuff).
Anyways, long story short - I'm pretty sure it was COVID .
Anyways, long story short - I'm pretty sure it was COVID .
>COVID-19 is far more serious than a cold
Not for kids.
And we always knew this, but our public officials didn't listen. It's one of those cases where it was better to do _nothing_ instead of force this massive mask trauma on our children. And still, they want us to vax 5 year olds against a virus that has long passed us by. For what?
Not for kids.
And we always knew this, but our public officials didn't listen. It's one of those cases where it was better to do _nothing_ instead of force this massive mask trauma on our children. And still, they want us to vax 5 year olds against a virus that has long passed us by. For what?
Sweden has about 2x the number of per capita deaths from Covid vs any of Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. You can't simply blow that off and not acknowledge that you are making a tradeoff.
My anecdata shows that the children who fared well through all of this didn't need group interaction at all. A small number of peers (<4) and a teacher or two were completely sufficient for children up through almost teenage years. In fact, those students are WAY ahead of where there would be even before Covid.
Small groupings like that for children would have been completely fine through Covid.
The problem in the US is that we, as a society, lack the collective will to fund something so obviously, ridiculously beneficial like that for an extended amount of time.
My anecdata shows that the children who fared well through all of this didn't need group interaction at all. A small number of peers (<4) and a teacher or two were completely sufficient for children up through almost teenage years. In fact, those students are WAY ahead of where there would be even before Covid.
Small groupings like that for children would have been completely fine through Covid.
The problem in the US is that we, as a society, lack the collective will to fund something so obviously, ridiculously beneficial like that for an extended amount of time.
People always talk about school closures by citing the fact that Covid was relatively less dangerous for children, always conveniently leaving out that you need adults to actually operate a school.
Such a narrative would seem to imply that those adults are expendable.
Such a narrative would seem to imply that those adults are expendable.
Strange how this kind of discussion is now considered “okay” to have. I was attacked for trying to have it in 2020, 2021, and most of 2022 but it seems like 2023 is the year that people will wake up. Too little, too late. The media, especially those that seem to have people’s trust like the NYT played a disgusting role in normalizing the marginalization of the unvaccinated.
It’s now less dangerous and therefore more permissible, since Covid is no longer a major threat to society (china aside).
You’ll have to excuse my language: bullshit. We had the data back in 2020 to know that covid wasn’t a huge threat. It was harmful to very old people with existing underlying health issues. The average age of those who died was older than the life expectancy, and we shut down the world for that.
The danger was in people’s minds and that was stoked aggressively by nearly every major institution we have: the government, the medical field, the media, and the tech companies. Each of them benefited from promoting fear.
The danger was in people’s minds and that was stoked aggressively by nearly every major institution we have: the government, the medical field, the media, and the tech companies. Each of them benefited from promoting fear.
I’m sorry, I forgot the lives of people over 75 aren’t worth anything.
Children are the future. We must protect and elevate them above all. Locking them up did much more harm than good, and it also strained their parents immensely, the people who are in their prime earning years.
Old people could have been even more protected while the rest of us continued on living. The emergency money could have been spent on providing more services to the elderly. Instead they were locked up with little help. In 2021 40% of Covid deaths were in nursing homes.
And finally, if you’re past the life expectancy and you know you may only have a few years left, would you spend it locked away isolated from your friends and family, or would you try to make the most of it, knowing that whatever happens you’ve made it further than most already? Many elderly were interviewed and were upset by the lockdowns for this reason. The average covid victim was in this very situation. Why did we take away their agency in their final years?
Old people could have been even more protected while the rest of us continued on living. The emergency money could have been spent on providing more services to the elderly. Instead they were locked up with little help. In 2021 40% of Covid deaths were in nursing homes.
And finally, if you’re past the life expectancy and you know you may only have a few years left, would you spend it locked away isolated from your friends and family, or would you try to make the most of it, knowing that whatever happens you’ve made it further than most already? Many elderly were interviewed and were upset by the lockdowns for this reason. The average covid victim was in this very situation. Why did we take away their agency in their final years?
the unvaccinated should absolutely be marginalized. also the idea that we constantly need to "wake up" to some previously hidden reality is a stupid way to look at the world.
If your ideological principles require the marginalisation of other human beings on the basis of their personal health decisions, you might be manifesting a totalitarian-authoritarian approach to life that is highly dangerous - and more to the point, extremely contagious.
Please innoculate yourself from such extremism by studying this document very, very closely:
https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/2021/03/udhr.pdf
Please innoculate yourself from such extremism by studying this document very, very closely:
https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/2021/03/udhr.pdf
Separating people into groups of those that should be marginalized and not is a stupid way to look at the world.
Why? We know that being vaccinated doesn’t keep you from catching or transmitting COVID.
We also know that vaccinated have less likelihood of both and less severe symptoms on average.
Just like a seatbelt does not necessarily mean you will not be harmed in an accident. Or do you believe all efficacy data to be made up ?
Just like a seatbelt does not necessarily mean you will not be harmed in an accident. Or do you believe all efficacy data to be made up ?
But, we are talking about vaccination protecting other people. What we see is the hospitals are full of vaccinated people, who are also contagious.
You're right, if you want to protect yourself against risk of severe outcome, that's fine. But vaccination does little to protect other people, it seems.
I'm double vaxxed, not boosted.
You're right, if you want to protect yourself against risk of severe outcome, that's fine. But vaccination does little to protect other people, it seems.
I'm double vaxxed, not boosted.
What other minorities do you believe should be marginalized?
Nope.
Nurses and Doctors who knew they had Covid should never have been forced to get vaccinated.
Very simple. Not difficult to understand.
Nurses and Doctors who knew they had Covid should never have been forced to get vaccinated.
Very simple. Not difficult to understand.
Sounds like you are being attacked often? Maybe inspect your vocabulary , it might be stuck in 2002…. Wake up sheeple.
Regardless of what happened when, by whom, and where, it was fucking hilarious watching the world lose it’s shit because you couldn’t go to the bar randomly or eat out.
Lost. Their. Minds.
wife and I happily read books and watched movies and played board games and went on hikes like usual
Lost. Their. Minds.
wife and I happily read books and watched movies and played board games and went on hikes like usual
Funny because I wanted to go to the beach like usual but it was closed and the police were issuing $500 dollar tickets if you stepped on the sand.
Different people had very different experiences of the lockdown. Many suffered tremendously - unable to get to work, being too far from friends and family and not being able to get help etc.
Clearly, you didn't have to go through the sort of problems some faced. That is not because they were stupid.
Clearly, you didn't have to go through the sort of problems some faced. That is not because they were stupid.
Key words there being “like usual”.
Honestly, as soon as I saw "wife" I rolled my eyes... there were four or five months (from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021) where I only had a scant handful of in-person interactions with humans I "knew", and like, they weren't even friends... I just mean "people whose name I know and would notice if they were replaced by an NPC"; one of them was "the guy who lives in the park near my house". I have never been so lonely, and I am the kind of person who normally "hates people" a bit :(.
My mother is still affected from this psyop. She doesn't even go out anymore. I try to encourage her to find a therapist but my words fall on deaf ears.
I sometimes wonder how the US would have reacted to a Spain-style lockdown. I somewhat happily watched movies and played board games as well, but was legally unable to leave the house for three months. It really sucked as we lived in a tiny studio apartment and it was hard to do any excessive at all.
We couldn't leave our apartments except to go to the supermarket for over two months. Followed by another 6 months of absurd rules in winter 2020/2021. You could eat in a restaurant but only until 3pm. You couldn't go outside after 10pm. You needed a mask to walk down the street but could take it off to eat. The fact that everyone just complied with such ridiculousness without question is why I lost my mind.
Don’t forget who supported those arbitrary controls on your lives.
Freedom of movement is a human right, and so is freedom of bodily autonomy. Both of these rights were being attacked with increasing and seemingly unending force. It became a moral issue very early on and it wasn’t clear where it would end at all. If rights were being stripped away for no good reason, then one might assume that any of their rights could be taken away on a whim.
In 2020 I looked at the data and decided that it wasn’t important to wear a mask. Do you remember how those people were treated in 2020? Now look at the covid infection rates today—they’re in the same ballpark as they were in 2020. And yet, most people refuse to wear a mask now.
I knew it wasn’t rational back in 2020 and yet I faced increasing aggression from my neighbors, my workplace, and my government for living my best understanding of the truth. Now almost three years on, people have decided that the truth has changed in my favor and I’m no longer insane.
Can you see how someone who thought the lockdowns were immoral would have been under great stress during the last few years?
In 2020 I looked at the data and decided that it wasn’t important to wear a mask. Do you remember how those people were treated in 2020? Now look at the covid infection rates today—they’re in the same ballpark as they were in 2020. And yet, most people refuse to wear a mask now.
I knew it wasn’t rational back in 2020 and yet I faced increasing aggression from my neighbors, my workplace, and my government for living my best understanding of the truth. Now almost three years on, people have decided that the truth has changed in my favor and I’m no longer insane.
Can you see how someone who thought the lockdowns were immoral would have been under great stress during the last few years?
People in 2022 have had the chance to get vaccinated though. So not wearing a mask 2020 is not the same to them as in 2022.
Unless you believe vaccines do not help and surgeon's do not need to mask up either for any reason.
Unless you believe vaccines do not help and surgeon's do not need to mask up either for any reason.
That’s a reasonable argument and all I can say is that I always try to do what’s right in my own heart.
We will see who’s going to hell in the end.
We will see who’s going to hell in the end.
Reading is good and all, but I enjoy my freedom to go out and touch grass.
Those with immune deficiencies, I know some - they are my friends, have it completely in their being and right to stay at home if needs be.
Don't let the government make everyone suffer just because some will.
Those with immune deficiencies, I know some - they are my friends, have it completely in their being and right to stay at home if needs be.
Don't let the government make everyone suffer just because some will.
I didn't mind not being able to eat out at restaurants.
I did mind redditors wishing death on people who expressed healthy skepticism about the government.
I did mind redditors wishing death on people who expressed healthy skepticism about the government.
I knew some people that were so darn hell bent on this stuff they coulen't see clearly. Including a friend (ex friend) who studied medicine and believed in force vaccinations.
Now, I am pro vaccine but my lord what sort of medicine student would forcefully make someone take something.
Then the lockdowns, the woes endured. It was a terrible time, nothing good of it came.
Luckily there was some good government defiance here, positives of living in a 3rd world place like South Africa was that if you lived far away from city centers you could get what you needed. Even when they tried banning certain items.
Now, I am pro vaccine but my lord what sort of medicine student would forcefully make someone take something.
Then the lockdowns, the woes endured. It was a terrible time, nothing good of it came.
Luckily there was some good government defiance here, positives of living in a 3rd world place like South Africa was that if you lived far away from city centers you could get what you needed. Even when they tried banning certain items.
I think investing any amount of emotion into what Redditors think is a mistake. And I say that as someone who rather likes Reddit.
I wonder how you would have been laughing if you didn't have a wife, and weren't allowed to leave the house, hike, or meet people. Probably wouldn't have been quite as funny, but I'm glad you had a good laugh at everyone else's experience.
So this isn't an official "Twitter files" release, just a random crazy person jumping on the bandwagon?
It's hard to tell either way, to be honest.
It's hard to tell either way, to be honest.
I'm still shocked that people are using Twitter as a reliable source for anything. WTF.
The thing is there are many people who are fine with this because their preferred party is in charge.
They do not care if these obviously dystopian abuses of power are wrong because they are ideologically aligned with those in power (at least, they think they are)
They do not care if these obviously dystopian abuses of power are wrong because they are ideologically aligned with those in power (at least, they think they are)
This applies to everyone though (not just the right or left). Both the Trump and Biden administration are named here.
Both parties did it. The idea of choice, of voting in itself, is but an illusion anyway.
They want to police what you say and to whom and call you a fascist simultaneously.
this is all frustrating and disappointing, but at some point would it also be appropriate to question why we seem to have collectively bought into the idea that the best (or only) way to share information with others is to have major media report on it or to share it on some controlled platform? Why isn't the best response to these sorts of embarrassing shenanigans to start emailing or texting links to friends, in the expectation that they'll do the same?
I'm tired of the assumption that our fundamentally human networks are things we cannot maintain by our own efforts.
I'm tired of the assumption that our fundamentally human networks are things we cannot maintain by our own efforts.
I received plenty of messages and emails from mostly older relatives spreading COVID misinformation (gargling warm salt water etc). I’m not entirely sure letting people spread whatever misinformation they want without any fact-checking is any better than what we had on Twitter.
People have been inside the walled garden of Twitter for so long, they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be outside it. Ultimately, it’s just an app, and the goings on of any app, forum, etc shouldn’t have any major significance on our lives.
> 39. What might this pandemic and its aftermath have looked like if there had been a more open debate on Twitter and other social media platforms—not to mention the mainstream press—about the origins of Covid, about lockdowns, about the true risks of Covid in kids, and much more?
I guess we will never find out, which is unfortunate.
I guess we will never find out, which is unfortunate.
[deleted]
That scenario could never have happened, by design.
People flag these so fast, they’ll never make the front page.
Nice that the front-page reactionary sniping of Elon Musk’s mercurial decisions has died down, but yeah. Disappointing, willful ignorance.
The cold fact that 80% of Twitter was not essential (and that this must also apply to the federal government and other big/corrupt institutions) is not going away, though.
The cold fact that 80% of Twitter was not essential (and that this must also apply to the federal government and other big/corrupt institutions) is not going away, though.
This is the first one that's actually a bad look for Twitter, the rest were a lot of noise over nothing.
Moderating is difficult. Film at 11.
Since when our government has become so righteous and correct that any challenge to its message is misinformation? Heck, since when the humanity gets closer to truth by trusting a single institution? I thought forbidding people from challenging a single institution is called Indoctrination.
Case in point: why is quoting CDC's own inconsistency a sin? https://twitter.com/davidzweig/status/1607387725065232384?s=...