Two weeks after the American satirical site “The Onion” bought the portal of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Elon Musk’s text messaging service X intervened in the matter and objected to the transfer of accounts established there. In an application filed in the relevant federal district court in Texas, Elon Musk’s service has declared that it is the sole owner of all the services offered. Neither Alex Jones nor his portal InfoWars had accounts on X, so they could not be resold without their permission. The service thus confirms the fundamental criticism of classic social networks.
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“The accounts belong to X”
The online portal “Infowars” was Alex Jones’ central source of money, especially since the right-wing populist’s content was blocked on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other services and PayPal also removed its payment services. Because Jones also claimed that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was staged with actors, family members went to court. There he filed claims for damages worth billions. Jones then had to file for bankruptcy and auction off the portal. In a surprising turn of events, The Onion has purchased the site. The satire site was supported by the victims’ families.
The fact that X is now intervening in the case is unusual to say the least. The accounts of companies that have been acquired are always carried forward. X told in courtTill now the courts have only had to clarify whether the accounts belong to a company or to individuals. But in any case it is clear that “the accounts at Alex Jones himself welcomed the intervention. A year ago, Musk overturned his Twitter ban, leaving behind a conspiracy theorist who was kicked off the platform in 2018.
Ax’s argument now confirms a major criticism of such centralized social networks. No matter how much effort one puts into setting up an account, for example to increase one’s reach through a large number of followers, the control remains with the operator. X makes it clear that users only own the content they post, but the accounts themselves are the property of X. So social networks have the final say on who can use them. This is why options like Masterdon and Bluesky have become more popular recently; The responsible people there promise that users really have sole control over their accounts.
(mho)
