So much for an open platform that lets everyone speak their mind. That’s X (do we still have to say, formerly Twitter?). It’s still there. You can still say whatever you want. But Democrats—the very progressive ones, at least—are fleeing the platform for more censorship-focused Threads and BlueSky. I don’t actually know if BlueSky is as censorious as Facebook or old Twitter, but it must be. The Progolydytes are fleeing X because they can’t tolerate the opposing views.
There’s no reason to abandon an established presence to go elsewhere unless the new platform appeals to your speech-limiting proclivities. And what about that? That doesn’t mean I can’t stand free speech.
David Carr, the editor of news insights and research at Similarweb, provided NBC News with data that confirmed that during the presidential election, X got the most traffic it has all year. But the day after, Nov. 6, X also saw 115,414 account deactivations, the most it has gotten since Musk took ownership of the site, the research found.
Many of these are low-altitude nobodies with smaller followings (are you following us on X yet?), but many higher-profile names have bailed on the platform. Okay. Bye. And no, this does not make up for your not moving to Canada (and its more restrictive abortion policies).
X is not in any danger of collapse. None of the Left’s prognostications post-Musk-takeover came true—quite the opposite. Its ranks swelled, visits soared, and no one is likely to miss whoever migrates to other platforms, especially the folks with a larger following. You can’t get that kind of attention without a bit of work, and they like the attention.
Overall, free speech has a place online, and while we have Minds, Gab, Locals, and a few others, Facebook, despite its intolerance, is still the leader for that style of platform, as will X.
So, feel free to come back when you think it’s safe to do so without pissing off the radicals who follow you (the way MSNBC has).
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