this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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X, which was formerly known as Twitter until its recent rebranding, is having a problem displaying old posts that came with images attached or any hyperlinks converted through Twitter’s built-in URL shortener. It’s unclear when the problem started, but it was highlighted on Saturday afternoon in a post by Tom Coates, and a Brazilian vtuber, @DaniloTakagi, had pointed it out a couple of days earlier.

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[–] [email protected] 118 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Someone noted that basically all of the media from the Arab Spring—which was a massive Twitter moment—has been wiped out.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I’m sure the Saudis who bankrolled The Muskrat’s purchase of Xitter had nothing to do with that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Not at all. This is totally a coincidence. Nothing to see here. Move along.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

I heard they "only" own 7 percent. Can you provide more details?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A great situation to point to when someone asks why decentralized social media is important

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

And also why we need non profit foundations backing the big social media sites so their priorities aren't increasing profit.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah, yes. A “glitch”. And, how fascinating that it affects links from the early days when Twitter was really gaining traction and being used to rouse populaces.

The thing is, Musk, whether he was paid to do this or not, is acting purposefully. This is all a grand scheme to fully dismantle what was once our global town square. Twitter was once a place where “the people” could hold politicians, corporations, and the generally wealthy accountable for their actions publicly. In the past year, the platform has become unsteady, blue checks are untrustworthy, and even the name has changed to something that causes one to pause.

I dislike the man as much as the next normal person, but all of this nonsense has been planned from the start. He’s not a complete idiot. These actions have been calculated steps to take away the voice of the people and eliminate a single source of truth as things get worse and worse.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you want further verification of that, look at where the money that he used to purchase Twitter came from.

It came from the Middle East, it came from oppressive regimes with wealth inequalities equivalent to the difference between a newborn baby that has to pay the hospital bill for its own birth and Elon musk.

It came from areas where people who were unhappy with the extreme laws that they were forced to live under used Twitter to organize so that they could vote and push for laws that brought them greater equality in life.

The fact that Elon is also using Twitter to fragment the American population and prevent them from unifying in a vote or having a single location where everyone can go and talk about the things that they are interested in is secondary to that but also serves the purposes of Elon who profited immensely from the Republican tax cuts from 2016 to 2020.

Elon went from a net worth of $11 billion dollars to $70 billion dollars in 4 years, and from $70 billion in 2020 to $219 billion dollars today, because the tax breaks that Trump instituted during his presidency have not been repealed or adjusted.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Additionally the Arab spring started on social media, which literally toppled multiple Middle East regimes. This makes perfect sense

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Probably one of the few places where all sides of the political spectrum inhabited.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What a dumpster fire. Meanwhile, I'm still getting alerts from my local fire department through twitter. Doesn't exactly make me feel safe.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Some governmental entities have started setting up their own Mastodon servers. I think that’s really the way to go. There’s no reason emergency services should depend on Musk’s goodwill and technical competence.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

can't rely on things that don't exist

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Volunteer.

Ive been helping small nonprofits move off of Twitter for the past few months. I'm sure a polite email can take you far.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Like 2018 or so it seemed like everything the local governments in my area wanted to do was via Twatter. The library had some situation and was closing early today? Don't check the website, check Twatter. The parks department is moving the summer concert to the rain date? Again only on Twatter. It took minutes to setup an account, it was free, and everyone could do it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ours sends normal texts through the emergency system. Works ok.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ours does too but the tweets always seem to get sent out first.

It's pathetic really.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

10$ a month to get emergency alerts half an hour earlier, allowing you to beat traffic when a natural disaster hits.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

@MicroWave

Musk is just working on wiping the whole thing out of existence.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Are we referring to Musk as a glitch now?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

And all those websites that embedded tweets are now fucked.

And Elon Musk drove another spike into twitter. Websites are going to know not to embed tweets anymore, which will cut out another avenue of traffic to Twitter.

What a idiot.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Websites are going to know not to embed tweets anymore

They'll forget within two weeks.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

Who the hell doesn't just use a fucking screenshot?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Everyone should have anticipated this. Twitter is a dead zone now.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Guarantee this is related to the Trump indictments.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which of them goes back so far?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

He was running for office for 2016 versus Hillary, but the run up to the election started way before that. Plus I'm sure Elon decided to maybe erase 6 to 12 months before Trump really went Twitter crazy just to make it seem less suspicious.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only there was a technology to make an archive copy you could selectively restore from...

Pity

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I doubt the pictures were deleted or anything, they just fucked up the link shortener.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

twitter was a public register documenting many events worldwide and he's actively destroying it.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

On the bright side if you go and twat now "screw you future historians trying to figure out stuff" you might manage to annoy someone in a thousand years.

Hmm come to think of it. People should be make random references right now to really mess with the future. "I saw Zoey today, her brother John is called the Messiah by some"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

"Glitch"

I am sure that there was a lot of proof of a lot of wrongdoing in those tweets. And now they are miraculously gone.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Makes sense as you now X-crete when you post and they are call X-cretions.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man this is just depressing

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Back then Twitter was much more open and there were places like the Library of Congress archiving everything. Things with historical significance will live on.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

losing old media, just like myspace

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I wouldn't mind not having to see her dead serial killer eyes ever again.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@MicroWave Great, it keeps getting etter and better.