I’m a technology reporter and founder of Paleofuture.com, a website I started in 2007 that looks at past visions of the future, from flying cars and jetpacks to utopias and dystopias. Paleofuture was formerly hosted at Smithsonian magazine (2011-2013) and Gizmodo (2013-2020). My work has appeared at BBC Future, Slate, The Verge, GOOD, Pacific Standard, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Buzzfeed. Most recently, I was a senior writer at Gizmodo for ten years. I’ve also given talks at Sout
ahead of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States on September 17, 2023. X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, announced a new feature this week that lets so-called verified users automatically block any replies from people without blue checkmarks. And Musk has already started using the feature, deploying it, ironically enough, in a new post about Community Notes, the crowdsourced fact-checking program.
Musk also introduced a program to pay people with blue checkmarks for their engagement, something that has contributed to particularly vile videos being shared in an effort to rack up views. I can personally attest to the fact that I’ve seen more people killed on video in the past two months than I’ve ever seen in my 15 years on the site.
With Musk’s decision to limit replies to only those people who pay him money, it seems clear the billionaire is trying to create a kind of safe space for himself. Musk has expressed frustration that he receives criticism on the platform. And while Musk has suggested he’d like to abolish free accounts on the platform, it remains to be seen whether he’ll follow through on that idea.
Social media is hard. You’re fighting enormous forces and bad actors who hope to spread misinformation. And while Musk insists he’s doing his best to limit the spread of lies on X, it’s clearly getting worse with the one-two punch of paid verification and paying creators for engagement. And with the site hemorrhaging advertisers ever since Musk took the helm, it seems unlikely that enough people will pay $8 per month for the privilege of seeing more snuff films.
X did not immediately respond to questions about Musk’s use of the new feature that limits replies to paying customers. I’ll update this post if I hear back.
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