The end of this article is interesting. It's as if Twitter wants users to participate and create volume. But then when they don't like what is said or if they simply want your name, they claim absolute ownership. Wow.
(I suppose all our names here are treated similarly.)
Musk has taken over @ handles he wants? (@america)
Or has threatened to turn off handles it doesn't like? (@pbs)
Maybe I should have put this in the censorship thread.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/elon-musk-x-stepping-legal-190530582.htmlIn a filing this week with the Texas bankruptcy court, attorneys for X said the company does not object to the overall sale of Infowars' parent company, but "objects to any proposed sale or other purported transfer of any account used by Jones or FSS that is maintained on the X platform ("X")."
That's because X says its terms of service make it clear that accounts cannot be sold, and are ultimately owned by X. While that's not unusual for a social media platform's terms of service, technology companies usually enforce those terms quietly and do not step in to public court battles, said Eric Goldman, an associate dean and professor of tech law at Santa Clara University School of Law.
"Social media services approach this topic gingerly because they want to encourage their users to invest heavily in their accounts," Goldman said. "If users fear that the services can moot those investments by taking back or exercising control over the handle, power users will be reluctant to make the desired investments."
Two things can be true at once, both experts said: Musk may be getting involved because of his political leanings and to set a legal precedent in a high-profile case involving well-known X accounts.
"It's not that the law has changed here. It's that Elon Musk as the owner and the people running X are flexing their muscles in a very new and different way," Butterfield said.
By intervening in the case, X is further showing how the platform is ultimately Musk's domain, where he can do as he pleases. Musk has shown a willingness to take over accounts in the past, threatening NPR after the public broadcaster stopped posting to its account and seizing the @America handle for his political action committee that supported President-elect Donald Trump during the campaign.
"What conceivable motivation does a company have for destroying the value in their users' accounts, and implicitly threatening all other users?" Butterfield said. "It becomes an individual person's playground, rather than a functioning marketplace of ideas."
