I'm thinking that abandoning Twitter is a win for the right wing [View all]
...as suggested by some this morning as Elon Musk sidles up to ownership.
They couldn't get Trump's 'Truth Social' off the ground, so they'll be more than happy to see Democrats delete their Twitter accounts, lessening social media presence and influence, and ceding that ground.
Journalists who regularly promote their copy on Twitter will, no doubt, be encouraged by the exodus of would-be critics and fact-checkers.
More importantly, pols and others looking to influence political opinion will be ecstatic to find opponents recoiling from the platform, leaving them room to spread their rhetoric and propaganda uncontrolled into the public arena.
Twitter isn't a perfect platform, even without Musk monopolizing his influence there, but that's never been the point of participation. The power for demagogues, who won't leave Twitter, is a chastened readership who is so beat down by the relentless flood of disinformation and hatred that they turn away and leave that dominion of information to them, alone.
Does anyone really believe journos, pols, and others on Twitter will have less influence if we ignore them? What makes the platform work is that it's form is based on who you follow. That's basically what shows up on your feed, what you see when you open it.
Mine includes prominent Democratic legislators, candidates, pundits, and supporters of the things I advocate. They're likely not leaving the ground to their opposition either.
Maybe consider that it's likely Musk's actual intent to spark an exodus of progressive voices and input from the prominent public platform.
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