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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   34989 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022

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Elon is on the warpath again, this time Apple is in his crosshairs. He made a bunch of tweets this morning about Apple being anti free speech. This pertains to two possible developments: Apple possibly stopping advertising on Twitter. And Apple threatening action against the Twitter app, according to Musk (Apple has not confined either). [1] I don't see how these are related. Apple's cutting ad spending does not imply it being anti-speech or anti-Musk or whatever. But the timing is suspicious. Elon by going up against Apple has met his match. This not the NYTs, but a 2-trillion dollar company that is like an economy in and of itself. it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Apple has the power to create or destroy businesses , through its app or supply line .

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/28/musk-apple-app-store-twitter/

Edit: because twitter is fully privately owned, it does not have to report anything, incl financials, so it's impossible to know how it's doing, unless, I suppose, it goes bankrupt and shuts down completely, or if secondary analytic firms show a major drop in traffic, or employees with insider info leaking financials an other metrics. People are speculating about what will happen to Twitter, but we will have no way of knowing. It's step step above in secrecy than an already public company undergoing a new management; we're talking new management + secrecy.

It wouldn't be that surprising if Apple or Google removed Twitter for similar reasons that they removed Parler (since reinstated) and Truth Social (removed on Google at least) given the current state of activism and information warfare. That it also provides leverage in terms of an advertisement business relationship might make it more likely.

Apple won’t touch this. They would be risking hundreds of billions of revenue by doing anything.

Microsoft was sued for bundling software on antitrust grounds. Apple does not want an antitrust fight.

The wokes greatest advantage is highly profitable firms don’t want to fight them. If the woke puts apples entire business model at risks and 44 billion in litigation from musks then they will find a fight they will lose. Getting apple to spend a billion a year hire about of DEI staff in HR is completely different than threatening their business model.

All it takes is an "AOC" like politician to "ask nicely" the NGO machinery and it will happen. Doubly so if it can be pinned on a random mass shooting. Before the deets are up and the shooter is infact a gay latino woman the app will be pulled by the apropriate "Diversity and inclusion" people on hand.

Is it possible that Musk is fully aware of this and overreacting to a minor comment someone from Apple made as a publicity stunt so that when they fail to remove him (since they never seriously planned to anyway) he can point to it as a win? Or is that too much 4D chess to be realistic?

High IQ is associated with high educational achievement is associated with high income is associated with living in coastal metropolitan areas is associated with liberalism; and corporations go where the money is.

Cest La Vie.

Ironically since Twitter Blue is an in-app-purchase restricted to iOS Elon has actually directly enriched Apple rather than the usual secondary halo effects of iOS users getting their birdsite fix. Not carrying an app is the opposite of bundling, Apple isn't offering their own alternative social media ecosystem. Zoomed out much of the censorship as it does exist comes from various organs of government as much as activist wings so engaging in it with tacit regulator approval is unlikely to provoke institutional response.

Microsoft was sued for bundling software on antitrust grounds. Apple does not want an antitrust fight.

Google, Apple, and even Microsoft (again) have moved so far past the grounds on which Microsoft lost that original anti-trust case, they now believe they have a blank check. They probably aren't wrong. They've already sprinted well past the line in the sand that case drew, and have left it far, far behind. There is simply no political will to enforce anti-trust law on big tech. They aren't up and coming industries anymore. They are major political donors, and among the only bright spots on the American economy. They are untouchable.

I still think there’s a line where they won’t want to poke the bear and trigger a serious case that leads to precedence and stricter enforcement.

What bear? Silicon Valley has more power to get officials who oppose them voted out of office than officials in office have to regulate them. Silicon Valley is the bear!

I think you overestimate their power.

How many battleships does Apple control? Sure they can do some psychological warfare.

And how popular would it be if Apple was found to be directly donated $500 million to a pac specifically targeting pro regulation officials.

The risk for Apple in banning Twitter would be massive. House Republicans would launch investigations and if a Republican President is elected in 2024, anti-trust actions would certainly follow. These actions would likely be politically popular as well. It would also place Democrats in the awkward position of defending a gigacorp whose entire business model is built on exploiting labor in China.

Apple has nothing to gain and everything to lose here, and Elon Musk knows it.

Edit: It looks like DeSantis is already all over this and is calling for a Congressional response should Twitter be taken off the App Store.

Arguments a la politics have the problem that they're nearly universally generalizable. What makes this view more likely than "The risk for Apple in not banning Twitter would be massive. Senate Democrats would launch investigations, and the Democratic President will push anti-trust actions"?

Presumably because taking an action exposes one to liability in a way that just maintaining the status quo does not.

if a Republican President is elected in 2024

Big if, when you are only allowed to talk about or hear what they let you. How many votes do you think censorship of the Hunter Biden Laptop story shifted? How many votes did banning the_donald shift? How many votes did shadow banning shift?

These people are going all in because they think the turnkey fascism built up in the US over the preceding decades is finally within their grasp. I'm not convinced they are wrong.

How many votes do you think censorship of the Hunter Biden Laptop story shifted?

CNN/NYT haven't deigned to address the issue you raise, so it's not an issue of import. Even here.

If apple + google did , then it would possibly open up an investigation for collusion. Only Apple, I dunno. The ramifications would huge though, so I agree it will likely not happen.

If apple + google did , then it would possibly open up an investigation for collusion. Only Apple, I dunno. The ramifications would huge though, so I agree it will likely not happen.

Why? Apple, Google, Stripe, Facebook, Mastercard, Cloudflare, etc have all gang fucked numerous businesses because "hate" and there have been no investigations. Why is Twitter some sort of final straw?

They'll do it, because they've done it before, and nobody will do shit, because nobody has before.

they have combined 100% market share of app downloads and act as gatekeepers. If they wanted to be smart about making it look less obvious, Apple could ban it and then a few months later Google also ban it. There would have to be some sort of provocation to justify it. Banning the twitter app for no obvious reason would arouse even more suspicion. Maybe plant some fake hate speech content and blame musk for not doing enough.

The antitrust case rises significantly if Apple cut twitter and it died.

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