zlacker

The problem with Yishan's analysis...

> Both sides think the platform is institutionally biased against them.

... is that it could still be true that the platform is institutionally biased in one direction. Both sides could think it, but one could be right and the other could be wrong.

Of course, if I try to stick up for one side then I'm playing into Yishan's hand. He's rigged the game so that if you try to argue back then he can just say you're proving his point: "no, you just think it's biased against you, but other side thinks that too! See what I mean?" But considering the revelations we've seen in the recent leaks, the "both sides" rhetoric now rings pretty damn hollow.

>>chrisb+(OP)
I think this is a pretty significant misreading. The basic argument of Yishan's thread (external to the 'all tech companies want to do is tech, not politics' angle which is honestly kinda tangential) is that social media is hard because it's social, not because it's media. The part you're pointing to is meant to develop this because it's a fundamentally social effect which causes both sides of the aisle to feel marginalized by the institution - something I think we can agree is pretty empirically true. All that's needed for the (increasingly accurate) predictions of Musk's difficulties piloting the ship to stick is the intractability of _calm social discourse_ in what Yishan is calling the new 'culture'. I don't think Twitter having a political bias is relevant there.

>>chrisb+(OP)
>> Both sides think the platform is institutionally biased against them.

But it was proven that one side was correct in the case of twitter:

Part 1: Matt Taibbi: https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598822959866683394

Part 2: Bari Weiss: https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1601007575633305600

Part 3: Matt Taibbi: https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1601352083617505281

Part 4: Michael Shellenberger: https://twitter.com/shellenbergermd/status/16017204550055116...

Part 5: Bari Weiss: https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1602364197194432515

Even Greenwald agreed with their assessment. Disagreeing with four of the best journalists alive today seems to me like someone drank some Kool-Aid.