X runs 'timeline takeover' ad promoting anti-trans film | TechCrunch
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Thursday on X (Twitter), all users saw the same pinned topic under the "What's happening?" sidebar. As part of a "timeline takeover" -- which gives

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/7435108

Thursday on X (Twitter), all users saw the same pinned topic under the “What’s happening?” sidebar. As part of a “timeline takeover” — which gives advertisers “priority access to logged-in users’ first impression of the day” — conservative media nonprofit PragerU is promoting the hashtag “#DETRANS” to advertise its new film about “the stories of detransitioners.”

    • @SmoochyPit@beehaw.orgEnglish
      14•1 year ago

      Agreed, but unfortunately too many creators rely on it and can’t uproot and leave. That’s my biggest loss, moving to other platforms, was specific creators who didn’t.

      • @davehtaylor@beehaw.org
        33•1 year ago

        The problem is that now you’re relying on a platform that’s entirely centered around being a bastion of hate speech. You would be doing the same thing if you based yourself on 4chan or Truth Social. Every moment you stay there and drive traffic through there, you have blood on your hands

        • Norah - She/TheyEnglish
          16•1 year ago

          Bloody hell, I hate this kind of absolutism. For example, Twitter is one of the only spaces online that Sex Workers can promote their content. There was a federated alternative, Switter was the third largest Mastodon instance, but it was forced to shut down. Often these are people who are doing sex work to survive. Transgender people make up a significant proportion of that demographic, as discrimination often precludes us from formal employment.

          But, according to you, those people have blood on their hands huh? People who have to sell their bodies using slurs so they can make rent…

          • Dr Cog
            7•1 year ago

            Sounds like a disingenuous argument.

            If you’re a content creator and you can leave, you should. If you can’t, well obviously you shouldn’t yet.

          • @davehtaylor@beehaw.org
            6•1 year ago

            Yeah, it sucks. But Musk has made it crystal fucking clear what he wants Twitter to be. He’s made sure to push right wing misinformation, disinformation, bigotry, transphobia, etc. He forced everyone there to see an ad about a transphobic movie from an alt-right propaganda farm. This platform is now, 100% a hate speech platform, and if you remain there, you are saying you agree and support that mission. There is no middle ground. There is no way to say you didn’t or don’t know. It’s been made very fucking clear.

            • @DrownedAxolotl@feddit.de
              1•1 year ago

              Unless of course a lot of people still there agree with the message that Musk is sending and don’t see anything wrong with the content. Wouldn’t surprise me.

            • Norah - She/TheyEnglish
              4•1 year ago

              If you click the link, they still have a static page up describing everything more eloquently than i could manage at 5 in the morning.

      • Franzia
        4•1 year ago

        So true. A lot of creators are actually very dependent on the accessibility of their content, but also the drama present on twitter. Mastodon takes patience not only from the creators but the users… What if they get bored before they see your content? Thats not good for business.

  • kosure
    30•1 year ago

    It’s grim. Obviously twitter still holds sway over a lot of people. And spreading malinformed propaganda is bad.

    But it really underlines that anyone with any conscience whatsoever needs to disengage from it. It’s not okay for governments to engage with it. And though I don’t suggest that capital cares has any sort of conscience, but engaging with it has been increasing in cost and decreasing in benefit. NPR recently left, for example, and saw nearly no impact whatsoever. So the cost of leaving is low.

    Ideally people would deny it any money, advertising or otherwise, until it ceases functioning. I suspect Musk will continue to be a delusional asshole for years to come. But at least twitter will be dead and gone.

    • ShaunaTheDead
      12•1 year ago

      And he constantly deadnames and misgenders her because he’s such a huge piece of shit, even to his own daughter.

    • nevernevermore
      3•1 year ago

      pronounced “ten”

      Is this real? Is his child whose name is also X pronounced that way? Dude needs to stop naming things that you can’t pronounce by reading them.

      also did he bother to change the verb tweet? Or is the brand change as half assed as he is?

      • @unmagical@lemmy.ml
        7•1 year ago

        Officially, probably not. But it would get under Elongated Muskrat’s skin so much if “ten” gained popularity over the “ex”.com he has been trying (and failing) his whole life to popularize.

  • Franzia
    6•1 year ago

    I loved how much trans joy was actually in this movie. If they’re trying to detrans people its like… Wow look at all of these unbelievably happy trans people on youtube and tumblr. But did you know… If you take hormones for medical transition it has permanent effects? 👻

    Like… Yea, yea it does.

    Prager U is starting to look like controlled opposition. Inadvertently putting the highlight on all of this awesome LGBT2SQIA+ content and people.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:

    Click here to see the summary

    PragerU, which is not a university, aims to “preserve American ideals.” The organization has been criticized for doubting climate change and downplaying the realities of slavery.

    “PragerU has chosen X/Twitter specifically for this campaign, as it is one of the least censored social media platforms,” the organization wrote in a press release.

    PragerU calls the short documentary its “most important” video yet, but extensive research shows that detransitioning is incredibly uncommon.

    In spite of research indicating that these procedures are often life-saving and rarely result in regret, right-wing figures continue to drum up panic around gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ people.

    X CEO Linda Yaccarino claims that the company will be profitable by 2024, but other evidence shows that the platform’s advertising business continues to suffer.

    As recently as this week, Musk has posted that he believes the word “cis” is a “heterosexual slur,” a personal position that reflects changes made to the company’s content moderation policies under his leadership.

    Saved 74% of original text.