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That one weird trick that lets you pretend that you took over Twitter to restore free speech, but regularly ban/shadowban/deboost those you don't like: just claim anything you don't like is spam.

There's a conversation I've had many times with people who insist that there should never be any content moderation or trust & safety. I just ask "what do you do about spam?" And the answer is often a variation of "well, of course you get rid of spam, but that's different." Except, it's not...

It's very easy to classify anything you don't like as "spam." As Elon is doing here. But once you've started down that slope you've already admitted you recognize the need to moderate *some* content. It's just a question of where you draw the borders.

Elon draws borders only slightly differently than most other sites, but he does draw borders, as any website realizes it must. It's just that he then lies and claims he's the only one who supports free speech. And a lot of silly people believe him.

You're very kind! But yes, once you're removing spam, NCII, and CSAM (which ~everyone trying to run a usable site for mainstream audiences does) you've crossed the rubicon. You're doing content moderation. The only question is just "what do you think is like those things and why?"

bsky.app/profile/tiag...

Not quite comparable. On social media, the most damaging content is not what *you* see - it's what other people see *about you* that harms or endangers you. Not all of which is illegal (e.g. posting some's address from public records). Individual filtering can't address these harms. Thus moderation.

Imho, content moderation is a lot like Frodo ending up with the One Ring (i.e. as a burden and obligation). Congrats, you run a very important site and have made a bunch of money. Unfortunately, you have to carry this cursed ring to a volcano while the of Darkness tries to kill you. Good luck!

I want to print out this post, wrap it around a brick, and drop it on a lot of people's feet

I hate how hard i laughed at this.

Also, you are invisible unless you mess up.

May everyone who's doing this important work well have a Samwise Gamgee who will carry them when they're exhausted and who also desperately wants to bone them.

I don't understand how mutes & blocks can qualify under even the loosest definitions of spam. But, I suppose words don't have to have meanings when they're convenient excuses.

2nd order. Coordinated mute/block operations are said to abuse the moderation process that is meant to limit the reach of targeted accounts, as if they contributed to regretted attention.

That feels like a different part of ToS than spam - abuse of service etc. I can see how advocating for blocking/muting someone could be spam (especially if relentlessly), but because mutes/blocks typically don't notify anyone at all or generate moderator requests I don't see how that could be spam.

I suspect musk melon is the most blocked individual...