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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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Anyone else suspect that Apple and Google are going to collude to kill Twitter by removing it from their app stores? Apple is already deleting their accounts on twitter. Seems like they are setting the stage. The Cathedral cannot tolerate a competitor to their stranglehold on social media it seems

I am confused about these events.

Obviously this is coordinated, yet again, by the ADL, who have come out of the closet and started issuing mafia-like threats publicly. In fact they are doing this under their old StopHateForProfit «coalition of social justice» framework, which they first used when bringing Zuckerberg to heel two years ago. (From a quick search, it seems I'm the only guy who keeps bringing this up). (Related Forbes article). Zuckerberg, however, did not fight back remotely as openly.

That's... a bit too much, too soon, surely? They aren't yet feared enough, and their commitment to reposting 4chan/pol/ anti-Jewish memes when not intimidating the richest guy on the planet makes them look profoundly unserious. Or do their backchannel threats have more bite, as indicated by those hints from corporations? Because as it stands, I wouldn't be surprised if this ends with Greenblatt's ignominious removal and the organization being discredited.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, and this is The Thing shedding the skin of wokeness and used-up assets; maybe they'll be spent to inflate credibility of Twitter that nevertheless will, as Musk promised originally, to install a censorship council. There are many theoretical ways to run circles around the public here.

Then again, mamma mia, how crude.

...Or, looking at replies to Musk's posts, eg here – maybe Greenblatt et al are rationally assessing their dominance. Huh.

The ADL does not have much money, but they have a lot of leverage with the media. The ADL & SPLC in the past has used its leverage to force Twitter to ban accounts . How many big advertisers will permanently defect if Musk does not cave to the pressure groups: I am optimistic most will not. Also Elon will find other ways to monetize the site, and layoffs will help control costs.

How many big advertisers will permanently defect if Musk does not cave to the pressure groups

All of them. The big advertisers all use a few advertising agencies, who are all run by the same activists who run the ADL and the SPLC.

why would a huge company like IBM or Apple need or care about an agency?

Apple uses TBWA, a division of Omnicom Group. IBM uses Oglivy and Mather.

why couldn't they just contact musk and buy ads? I'm sure they don't need a middleman. Maybe in the past they did need an intermediary but I don't see why this would be an impediment now.

there is a form to contact Twitter to buy ads

https://business.twitter.com/en/form/contact-us-mobile.html

People said the same sort of thing when we were talking about cloudflare and kiwifarms, and I'm not really sure what to say to describe the pressure these groups impose other than gesture wildly at every Manipulating Procedural Outcomes essay.

Yes, it's possible for the CEO-king of Apple to say "fuck those guys, we're going solo", but this doesn't happen in practice even when men like the Cloudflare CEO commit to it in advance. That's because none of them have that much control over their own companies, and the procedures used to make internal decisions are all dominated by a party cadre that doesn't have the interests of the company in mind.

I can't imagine any set of orders Tim Cook could give his VPs that won't be met with replies of "yes sir, advertising and public relations will get right on studying the feasibility of that sir. They'll have an answer for you within four to six weeks."

This kind of thing happens again and again, and every time people are somehow surprised by it. Can you suggest any way I could talk about it that would make it click for people?

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