My Twitter has been stolen

This is the feeling I’ve had for some time now. I admit that even when I log into Twitter, now X, I do so hoping to find something of what once was, but unfortunately, I leave there increasingly convinced that this is a place I don’t want to be. I feel like my Twitter has been stolen.

But what happened to us from being the platform we spent our lives on to being one step away from saying goodbye?

1. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in April 2022 undoubtedly marked the beginning of the end, or at least a profound change for this social network. For a long time, we considered hypotheses about what he wanted to do with Twitter, beyond changing its name and turning it into X. Well, now we know: he has turned X into a self-proclaimed platform for spreading his ideas and opinions.
2. The concern of European authorities in recent years about what social networks were doing with user data, and the passage of the European Digital Services Act, boosted the subscription model. The explanation is clear and logical, given that it has to recoup the more than $44 billion it paid for it.
3. However, subscription has changed the internet, and now the premise is clear: if you pay, you succeed. No more creating interesting, quality content as a way to reach more people; what matters now is whether or not you pay so the algorithm can work for you.
4. Putting forward a supposed defense of freedom of expression, Musk has eliminated content moderation departments, which, although limited in capacity, allowed for some order and control over what was published on the platform. Now, anything goes.
5. The much-talked-about hate speech seems to be the only one that exists on X these days. Just take a stroll through this “digital neighborhood” to find nothing but controversy, insults, and aggression, and it seems that a race has broken out to see who can “say the loudest thing.” How naive we were at a time when we entertained ourselves with Follow Fridays #FF recommendations of interesting profiles, or shared tips and tricks every night with #MarketerosNocturnos.
6. We knew little about the political leanings of Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter, but with Elon Musk, we have no doubts. And this is starting to generate discomfort and concern among many people, brands, and companies who tell you, yes, X is very good, but they don’t want to contribute to such a politically significant platform and the damage this can do to their companies’ image, without ignoring the ethical dilemma this entails.
7. The reason a social network exists is the people who use it, who often also work for it without even realizing it. Every time we log into X and view our timeline or post, we’re working for Elon Musk and contributing to his interests. There was a time when for “that work” we received “payment” in the form of an increase in our digital presence, but now all of that is limited by the subscription wall.
8. The emergence of new platforms, formats, and channels has also helped us choose where we spend our time in ways that are more aligned with our goals and our understanding of communication.

I admit I’m increasingly distant from X, from everything that happens there, and I practically limit myself to logging in, programming, taking a look at some lists, and leaving. There are times when even this seems like a lot of time. Added to the drifts of a character like Elon Musk (the latest thing he’s done is that as soon as you log on to X the first thing you see are his posts), is the fact that X has become a space that seems increasingly less interesting to me and contributes less to me.

For many, X users may now be the ultimate, many of them the same ones who for years said they’d never be on social media until they opened a profile. But for those of us who lived through Twitter’s beginnings and growth, we knew what it was and what it has become. And what I see, I like less and less.

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