We’ve been encouraged to leave Facebook for our own mental health and the sake of democracy, and with those same two goals in mind, it may also be time to give up on Twitter.
On August 17, Twitter users are organising a social media walkout under the hashtag #DEACTIDAY. BoingBoing writer Mark Frauenfelder posted that his decision to leave is motivated largely by the platform’s refusal to ban Alex Jones, whom they’ve admitted has violated their official policies.
Jones has long been spreading conspiracy theories to his many followers, and has encouraged the continued harassment of parents of Sandy Hook victims. He’s a horrendous troll, and Twitter’s banning policy has been inconsistent and confusing, as their CEO Jack Dorsey admits:
Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. We’re going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Jones and his Infowars channel have been blocked on Apple, YouTube and Facebook, according to The Guardian, but Twitter is still holding out and no one really knows for sure why. But one working theory is that since the site has become more and more the domain of people with extremist and hateful views, they probably don’t want to piss off their user base.
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So, why not deactivate on #DEACTIDAY? Those joining the campaign will deactivate their accounts on Friday, and give Twitter 30 days to do something substantial about Alex Jones and its general tolerance of bigotry and abuse. If nothing’s been done, the deactivations become permanent, according to participants.
Next Friday. We’re out. The only thing Twitter cares about is engagement. Let’s stop giving it to them. Reclaim your life. Reclaim your blood pressure. Reclaim your mental health. Please help spread the message. #DeactiDay pic.twitter.com/Y6TVMHyQfa
— Mike Monteiro, cisgender male (@monteiro) August 11, 2018
If you don’t feel as though leaving the world of Twitter forever is an option, Shannon Coulter, who co-founded Grabyourwallet.org, recommended in her own thread that people also try blocking the biggest revenue sources for Twitter, which she writes are Fortune 500 companies.
Coulter even provided her own blocking list and instructions on how to use Blocking Together to prevent Twitter from making money off you — at least via ads from these companies:
Option One: The quickest, easiest way is to use a free tool called Block Together. Using it, I created a custom block list to which you can subscribe w/ a few clicks. This doesn’t negate/overrule your own block list. You’ll just be blocking my own list in addition to your own…
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) August 12, 2018
To subscribe to my block list, just click this custom link: https://t.co/8xeSKYV0bc. Then click the button that says “Block All and Subscribe.” Then click the blue “Authorize App” button. Voila! You’re now blocking all the companies on my list!
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) August 12, 2018
You can also do it manually for each company, cross-checking with this list. There may come a time when you no longer want to be complicit in the world of social media, but while you’re still here, pressure companies to do the right thing by going for the thing they care about: Money.
Comments
6 responses to “It’s Time To Quit Twitter”
I ditched that hatefest after some random redneck from the US said he’d wished I’d been one of the people run over in the Bourke Street Mall. He’d decided it was a terrorist attack and my tweets from the Victoria Police were lies and warranted such hateful words. Twitter is like an endless protest where everyone is yelling and nobody is listening.
I said I’d make a big effor this year to use Twitter. Once I’ve worked out what it’s for.
Looks like I may have left it too late if everyone’s quitting it.
A biased organisation who refuse to condemn anything the other side does now tells us to quit something so that we can only get a one sided story of everything that fits in with their agenda? Yep, that’s convinced me. Twitter is evil, must sunscribe to Fairfax, NYT, Huff Post, Gizmodo. Must abandon free thought….
I agree to a point, you can’t stop one side because you don’t agree with them, people like Jones though, really need to be excised from the conversation. Have you actually seen the absolute garbage/bile that fool spouts? He needs the attention, so he just ramps it up and along the way collects like minded fools to help tow his bigoted line.
TBH I haven’t seen any of his tweets/posts as I don’t go looking for or follow people like him & I have retweets turned off so I don’t get bombarded by extremist idiots on both sides. However, there are just as many idiotic foul mouthed morons on the extreme Left yet not once has this or their sister sites ever recommended quitting due to any adverse posts by the Left.
Not sure where you are but an example is the vile posts by Clementine Ford & Van Badham, 2 favourite Fairfax extreme left “journos” who use the C and F words frequently, asking their followers to kill people on the right, kill all men etc, pure hate filled people yet these clowns remain silent. I am just amazed at how educated people can ever form an opinion when all they get is a one sided argument.
I don’t think there is a sane person on this planet who feels that Trump is anything but a disaster but the behaviour of the Left and their brainwashed is embarrasing. Besides, if I wanted a political story, I would read a political paper or website. Why TF do I have to have politics shoved down my throat on tech/motor/this website.
Rant over, pills kicking in……..
Firstly, 🙂
Allure have dragged LH and Gizmodo down to the level of morning television blather where they just dribble fodder for the sheep. Gizmodo was so sick of being asked why a tech site is peddling so much non-tech dross that they shut off comments. Me thinks LH may follow sooner or later. Oh, and yes I know you can comment via other means, but to be honest they are a shit show too.