Cyrrona on 🦋

Tonight I am doing something that I should have done a long time ago. Over the past few years, I’ve seen this website slowly decay into a shell of its former self. As of this morning, the terms of service were changed to allow third parties to train AI models on user posts with no way to opt out, which is only the latest in a series of terrible decisions that has turned this platform into the dystopian hellscape it has become. The Twitter I knew, the Twitter I built a platform on, the Twitter I created a career with – is gone. The writing was on the wall as soon as it was bought and privatized by the former wealthiest person to ever live. I only regret that it’s taken me this long to do something about it. It kills me that I once considered this platform’s owner to be competent, maybe even benevolent. I hate that I’ve been indirectly paying him to sow fear, hatred, and division through my use of this app. Rather than simply cancel my premium subscription and post links to my other social media accounts, I wanted to take steps to offset some of the harm this platform has caused and explain all of my reasons for what I’m doing in the hopes that it might convince others to do the same. While I can’t leave entirely due to Twitter’s importance to my job as a social media manager, I can at least guarantee that this website will never receive another cent from me while it remains under its current ownership, and I will be moving all my non-essential social media usage to other platforms where you can find me under the same username. I will also be donating to a handful of charities that champion causes I believe in, and that Twitter’s owner evidently does not. If you're with me so far, you can probably stop reading here. Otherwise, I'm going to take a moment to explain what I've witnessed happening to this platform, why it matters, and what I'm doing about it. In October 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion after multiple attempts to weasel out of the deal proved unsuccessful, and he was forced to see his spontaneous and unsolicited offer from April of that year through to completion. Immediately after he obtained ownership of the platform, it saw a drastic spike in hate speech and targeted bigotry including racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, and more. Musk himself even contributed to the mob, spreading conspiracy theories about the attack on former US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband only two days after the deal was finalized. Despite claims of supporting free speech, Musk has made it clear that he’s more than happy to ban, suppress, or otherwise censor voices and opinions that he disagrees with. When he said “comedy is now legal on Twitter,” I guess what he really meant was that he had begun the process of turning the once reputable platform into a complete joke. But no one could have predicted just how pathetic a joke it would become. Shortly after taking over as CEO, Musk went to work dismantling the brand that Twitter had built for itself over the 16 years prior. By April 2023, he had fired swaths of the company’s staff – citing corporate bloat and inefficiency – and many of the platform’s core features started breaking as a result. He rejected the idea of content moderation, and the sharp uptick in bigotry and harassment that ensued drove all of Twitter’s largest advertisers away. He even destroyed the company’s core identity, doing away with the Twitter name and logo and replacing them with his bland, uninspired vision for “X, the everything app.” He continued to lean into his harmful rhetoric, endorsing antisemitic posts and stoking the flames of fear, hate, and discrimination whenever possible. When advertisers proceeded to withdraw from Twitter, Musk accused them of blackmail and told them, and I quote, to “go fuck themselves.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone to hear that the value of Twitter went down under Elon’s ownership, but it can’t be understated just how quickly he turned a functioning global institution into a bot-infested shithole worth under a quarter of what it was when he purchased it. Based on the most recent estimates, the platform is now worth less than $10 billion, resulting in a net loss of over $34 billion (approximately 12% of Musk’s total estimated net worth) compared to the $44 billion he paid for it. Let that sink in. Despite Twitter’s failure as a company after being brought private by Elon Musk, it has proven far more useful as a propaganda tool. In an unprecedented display of blatant corruption, the platform has been used to push a specific agenda through algorithm manipulation, deception, and the stifling of opposing voices. Throughout the course of the recent US presidential election cycle, Musk became Donald Trump’s personal lapdog, jumping around on stage like an idiot and creating a Super PAC to funnel an estimated $200 million into the Trump campaign. He gave the PAC the @america handle on Twitter, giving it the appearance of an official account that represented the country while shilling exclusively for Trump. He also hosted illegal $1 million dollar giveaways for registered voters in swing states that signed his PAC’s pointless petition to say they supported the constitution. This already qualifies as election interference under Title 18 U.S. Code 597, but the campaign is also facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly breaking giveaway and sweepstakes regulations in the United States by falsely claiming to select winners using random chance despite later admitting in court that winners were preselected when defending against an entirely different lawsuit. And that’s not even getting into all of the other ways Musk leveraged Twitter in an attempt to influence voters such as platforming and endorsing fascists, espousing alt-right talking points, and suppressing progressive voices. Now that the election is over, we’re finally seeing the extent of the influence Musk has had over the president-elect through his consistent presence at Mar-a-Lago, his financial contributions, and likely much more that is yet to be unveiled. For all his meddling, Musk has been rewarded with the “DOGE” Co-head designation that he’s been angling for, giving him carte blanche to continue influencing the policies and procedures of the most powerful nation in the world as one of the most disproportionately wealthy individuals to ever exist. To top it all off, the department’s meme name is even boosting the value of the shitcoin Musk has admitted to still owning significant amounts of. What a coincidence. I refuse to play even a tiny role in enabling this level of criminal, anti-democratic activity moving forward. It’s easy to feel hopeless in the face of so much injustice (and everything I’ve mentioned so far is only scratching the surface of the things that are coming to light since last week’s election), but it’s important to remember that we can ultimately only control our own actions. In June 2023, Twitter added the ability to earn revenue to premium subscribers based on their monthly impressions. Despite standing to benefit from this program, I refrained from purchasing premium out of principle. One month later, the platform rolled out a setting that was toggled on by default and prevented unverified accounts from sending direct messages to accounts with the setting enabled. Months later, the platform even gatekept its analytics tracking features behind the Premium paywall. I quickly ran into roadblocks that prevented me from doing my job as a social media manager, and I was forced to subscribe to what was at the time still called Twitter Blue. I paid $10.50 CAD per month from August 2023 to March 2024, and then I purchased a year-long subscription to X Premium on July 2nd, 2024 for $220.50 CAD. Altogether, I’ve given $304.50 CAD to this platform, but I can confidently say that that number will not be increasing any further while Elon Musk is at the helm. Although cancelling my membership and making efforts to move my social media activity elsewhere is a good start, I also want to do something tangible to offset the harm that I have contributed to by supporting this platform and its ownership for the past 15 months. That’s why I will be donating $304.50 (the amount I have spent on Twitter) to both Planned Parenthood and The Trevor Project, two non-profit organizations that offer services and support for marginalized groups that Musk has caused direct harm to, and that need help now more than ever. Musk has a track record of sexual harassment and gender discrimination allegations, with several lawsuits that have been brought against him from former employees and associates accusing him of everything from treating women at his companies as sexual objects, to propositioning subordinates to bear his children, to straight-up sexual assault. He has also consistently demonstrated that he does not respect or believe in the rights of transgender people, making multiple posts criticizing pronouns and even going so far as to publicly deadname, misgender, and persecute his own trans daughter. By shilling for Trump’s re-election, Musk has helped to embolden fascists and white supremacists to spread their hateful messages with impunity. Nick Fuentes’s post-election “your body, my choice” post in particular has caused a dramatic increase in online harassment towards women. Seeing this happen off the back of Twitter’s use as a multi-million dollar campaign tool for a presidential candidate with more than his own fair share of sexual assault and misconduct allegations, it didn’t feel right to just sit back and watch. Enough is enough. I wish it didn’t take me so long to stop supporting this dying platform. Hell, I wish I never paid for Premium in the first place. But, as the saying goes: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” I’m proud to be standing up for what I feel is right, and I hope others who read this might consider following suit, whether that means cancelling Premium, leaving Twitter entirely, or making their own contributions to charities they believe in. I believe a better world is possible; we just need to work together to make it a reality. To summarize: I will still post here when necessary, but I will be looking to move all my non-essential social media usage to other platforms, and I encourage everyone to migrate to bluer skies so we can put this dying bird down for good. I will be donating everything I’ve ever paid for Twitter Premium to both Planned Parenthood and The Trevor Project in support of folks who could really use the help right now, and I have cancelled my current subscription and all future payments. And last, but certainly not least: Fuck Elon Musk.