Twitter is officially dead.
Musk ended the argument when he renamed the app X.
And now, so many people seem to pine for the days when Twitter was good.
Graphic: Gizmodo
But let me tell you, it was never good.
It was a place of sadness and attention farming; a place for enemies and humiliation.
It was, in short, shit.
Screenshot: Twitter
For the most part, these changes have not gone over well.
In reality, Twitter didnt need enshittifyingbecause it was always terrible.
Sure, the platform might suck more now.
In that sense, Musk may have unintentionally done us all a favor.
Here is a modest list of the platforms many sins against the internet.
Sin #1: Not a happy place
Lets start with the basics.
In general,a large pile of researchseems to demonstrate that Im not alone in that respect.
Peopleget pointsfor putting others down, for crucifying their enemies, and for bragging about their achievements.
When it launched, it was broadly thought of asa superficial place where superficial people shared superficial thoughts.
Non-users often seemed confused as to what the sites appeal was.
Who cares what I ate for breakfast?
It would give a voice to the voiceless and help marginalized communities broadcast their experiences to the global public.
As early as 2010,researchers notedthe companys serious bot problem.
The companys open-door policy allowed anyone to sneak onto the site, create a profile, and start posting.
But disinformation on Twitter did not begin with Vladimir Putin.
Nor did it end there.
Some examples of the platforms information pollution are decidedly more dire than others.
During the pandemic, for example, the swell of noxious information on the platformexploded to a terrifying degree.
Twitters bot problem has always been a hotly debated topic.
Prior to Musks takeover, Twitter executives frequentlyclaimed thatthe percentage was likely less than 5 percent.
However, researchers have consistently guessed that the real number is much higher.
Instead, it has always been a platform that can easily be co-opted to disseminate organized deceptions.
At best, you might argue that Twitter moderated opportunistically in the past.
Similarly, supporters of the Islamic State (you know, the group known for cutting peoples heads off?
)continued to use the siteduring this same period.
Dopey right-wing influencers get canceled but literal, actual terrorists and neo-Nazis are allowed to tweet?
How does that make any sense?
Twitter had never been good at cybersecurity.
But Mudges revelations last year revealed security deficiencies of a different sort.
Multiple spy scandalsincludingone involving operatives from Saudi Arabiahave shown that his suspicions were right.
In many ways, it seemed like Twitter was just begging for this to happen.
Any security professional will tell you thataccess controlis an important part of corporate cybersecurity.
Being able to determine who sees what is a key part of keeping a business safe.
At Twitter, it appears nobody ever got this memo.
Twitter learned of this several times only by accident, or because of employee self-reporting.
Yes, sure, it is worsebut it wasnt super great to begin with.
I will admit that the experience of being on X/Twitterespecially as a journalistcan be exhilarating.
What has changed is the public perception of the platform.
When theverification fiascosof Musks early days were happening, I couldnt help but laugh.
There seems to be a pretty high possibility that Musk will kill the platform.
So, things arent looking good.
Should the worst happen, I am clearly not going to be mourning the apps passing.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
