Here, in one tweet, we can see the near terminal myopia of the mainstream press — especially among those who believe themselves to be superintending the spread of “disinformation.”
For those of you asking: Yes, I do think this site can and will change pretty dramatically if Musk gets full control over it.
No, there is no immediate replacement.
If it gets done early enough, based on the people he's aligned with, yes, it could actually affect midterms.
— follow @bencollins on bluesky (@oneunderscore__) October 4, 2022
“It could actually affect midterms,” Collins says. Which, by definition, means that Collins believes that Twitter’s current moderation policies are affecting political outcomes. But that doesn’t concern him. What concerns him is that Twitter’s moderation policies might affect political outcomes in the wrong direction. Up until now, Collins and many like him have been quite happy with Twitter’s decisions, because they have gone in a direction of which Collins and many like him approve. If Elon Musk buys Twitter, however, they aren’t sure this’ll continue, and so, suddenly, this becomes a national crisis.
I believe — unironically and unashamedly — that Twitter is a private company and that it can do what it likes. But I believe this now, when Twitter is not owned by Elon Musk, and I’ll believe it next week, if and when Twitter is owned by Elon Musk. Collins does not believe this, because, despite his lofty title — Senior reporter, dystopia beat, @NBCNews — Collins is not actually interested in anything other than power. He’s not interested in truth or lies, information or disinformation, utopia or dystopia. He’s interested in control. And, in one tweet, he just demonstrated that.