Elon Musk’s Twitter arc seemed all but wrapped up. There seemed to be nothing left but boring paperwork.
But leave it to the main inspiration for the Systems Overterrestrial Coalition to whip up fresh conflict with Indian bean counters.
Of course, the latest twists in the billionaire’s move to buy the Death Cult platform took place on Twitter itself.
To be serious for a minute, the deal’s fragile status can’t be pinned on Musk alone. Twitter’s use of bot accounts to manufacture consent has been an open secret for years. The current management must be deluded or dumb to think a potential buyer wouldn’t ask for proof debunking the rumors.
And they had to know they’d be in hot water if they couldn’t prove their traffic is legit.
Didn’t they?
What kind of consequences are we talking about?
OK, massive fraud sounds bad. At least there’s no real evidence that Twitter manipulates its numbers with bots, right?
Uh-oh … Not looking good.
But it gets worse.
I can’t blame Musk for putting the Twitter deal on hold. A social media company’s value is derived from its user base. Musk was already overpaying for Twitter. Going through with the deal absent proof the site’s not 50% bots would be like buying a car without the dealer letting you look under the hood to make sure there’s an engine.
And since almost all social media outfits are scams that operate on ad revenue based on inflated user data, it’s doubtful that proof Twitter’s numbers are legit is forthcoming.
I said back when this saga began that Musk’s play amounted to a Xanatos gambit with only two possible outcomes: Either he takes over Twitter, or he forces the company to self-destruct in the process.
Now it looks like scenario 2 is the more likely result.
That’s fine, to be honest. If the deal falls through, Twitter will finish its terminal decline into a pipeline for Death Cult NPC firmware updates. Normal people will continue migrating to superior alternative platforms like Gab. With any luck, Musk will take Andrew Torba up on his offer to help upgrade Gab’s operation by investing a fraction of what he offered for Twitter.
It’ll be fascinating to see how Twitter’s current management respond. After several resignations and layoffs in anticipation of Musk’s now-uncertain takeover.
The fun’s not over yet!
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My favorite corrupt billionaire is gonna have me OD’ing on popcorn at this rate.
I have a good recipe.
My wife and I discovered a while back that cinnamon is a good way to season popcorn, in lieu of salt. The cinnamon almost seems to sweeten it a bit.
Fascinating
Yes, you do. Confirmed!
I don’t especially like the guy on some issues, but I don’t really care. He says people shouldn’t be killing babies and should have more them, and there is this.
Please, sir, may I have some more? He should just act as a public service–corporate wrecking ball. Or salt mine. Go in on a tip and demolish some of the corporate sturcutres. It is too late to save the American-in-Name-Only Empire, but he could at least squash some of the plump maggots who are digesting the corpse.
Exactly. Either way, it’s a win-win situation.
This is great. I’ll bring the Potato Chips.
Dips will be provided.
This is probably to be expected, but even I have seen an uptick in anti-Elon propaganda on my little level. There’s a wonk who comments on every Lotus Eaters video touching on Elon raving on with monomaniacal fanaticism about how Elon is totally a puppet dancing to the strings of The Elite and how he’s a False Prophet sent to pacify the mewling stupid masses (I know Elon isn’t perfect, and we shouldn’t worship him or anything, but unless the Elite’s plan involved giving up their already secure control of the means of propaganda in order to have to wrestle it back from someone else in an ugly spat that further reveals their wickedness, then it makes little sense that Elon’s part of it).
He seems to have absolutely nothing else to do with his life, because he makes dozens of comments and responds to all of his replies, always with the typical Gnostic bullshit of claiming that anyone who disagrees with him is either In On It or just Too Stupid And Benighted To Get The Obvious Truth. There was also a hilarious incident where he responded to a demand for proof of his ludicrous claims by claiming “free speech” as grounds for not needing to provide any evidence. Well, of course he doesn’t, but if he doesn’t, then we’re all allowed to dismiss his crackpottery.
There’s a clear pattern to these sudden waves of attacks that materialize just when effective counters to TPTB start gaining traction. Hell has released a spirit of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And it’s not just Internet Gnostics and terminally online gossips feeding the flames. A lot of these FUD super spreader accounts are like the stickers you got from cereal boxes in the 80s: Scratch them, and they glow in the dark.