Elon Musk says he’s for free speech but what he means is he wants you to pay him each month for the privilege of speaking. More finely, to not be shunted away into what amounts to a time-out room, where you’re free to say whatever you like but almost no one – including the people who follow you – are aware you’ve said anything.
It’s as ingenious as it is vicious. You’re not prevented from posting a comment/link to something, so you think actually have posted it. But it’s like an online palimpsest that overwrites what you just wrote.
X says that doesn’t happen if you’re “verified” and “blue checked.” Ostensibly, this means you have proved you are you and not a bot or a fake name posting nasty things anonymously. Or just anonymously – as if that were a bad thing.
In fact, it’s a scheme to monetize you after you’ve been mined.
X wants $8 per month – ongoing – to not be shunted into the time-out room. To “verify” and “blue check” that it’s you. This amounts to about $100 per year. Over say five years of ongoing, monthly “verification” and “blue checking,” it’ll be about $500 – plus whatever X gets from selling data about you.
It’s like a “free speech” subscription!
Actually, that’s exactly what it is. The effrontery of it is mighty. For those who can remember print newspapers and letters-to-the-editor, imagine the paper not publishing anyone’s letter unless they paid for the privilege. That’s what X is doing only it’s not as honest as that.
Why this greasy business about “verification”?
How many times is it necessary to “verify” that someone is who they say they are? Apparently, once a month for $8 each month. I have always used my authentic first and last name on X, which used to be Twitter and whose symbol was a blue bird – which has an interesting connection to CIA programs, if you look into it. My handle – LibertarianCarG – has always been my handle. So it’s not about “verifying” anything and the “blue check” just means you’ve signed up for a monthly free speech subscription.
Some will say this is entirely legitimate from a private property/free market point-of-view in that X is a private company and it has a right to establish terms and conditions. Of course, this argument never works when a the owner of a restaurant, say, wishes to serve people who wish to be served but neither wants to “mask up.” Then all of a sudden there are terms and conditions. Enforced by the government.
The “private property/free market point-of-view” seems to always favor big corporations but much less so individuals.
That said, private property ought to be private property. Those who own something do have the right to set terms and conditions and these ought to be respected, else the whole concept of “private property” is incoherent.
What sticks in the craw – mine, at least – is the false advertising. Free speech you have to pay for is not free speech, by definition. In a very real sense, you have been placed in the position of an advertiser – who pays to get their “message” (as ads are now greasily styled) out there.
What Elon has done, then, is to turn millions of people into advertisers – and that’s genius. Far better to have millions paying to place their “ads” than to have a relative handful of peddlers pushing their ads on people. Even more so when you can have both, which is exactly what Elon has done.
Being “verified” and “blue checked” does not exempt you from being peddled to; the peddling is “tailored” to you. That’s a big part of what being “verified” and “blue checked” is actually all about – in addition to getting you to pay for speech that isn’t free.
So, let’s review: Elon wants you to pay him $8 each month to not have your speech stifled, so as to litter your feed with endless peddlering ads “tailored” to your interests – as determined by the preferences you’ve revealed on X that are taken note of (mined) and the data sold to the peddlers, to better “tailor” their peddlering at you.
Elon is a genius. This “verified” and “blue checked” grift is just almost as as spectacular as his electric car grift, which used the fatuous virtue signaling need of rich leftists to sell electric cars on speed and power, backed by government force and the attendant artificially generated stock market valuation of his grifty EV operation.
It’s worth a mention here that Elon pioneered the subscription grift at Tesla, where the rubes pay serially to use various features as opposed to paying once for an option that once paid-for is owned.
At least X – formerly the blue bird of interesting CIA connections – does not use the government to enforce its grift. People could just stop paying to use X – and use something else, instead. But for whatever reason, X has a mesmerizing hold on people, many of them liberty-minded people.
This makes me want to reach for the bottle – as well as a hammer.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you like items like the Baaaaaa! baseball cap pictured below, you can find that and more at the EPautos store!
“just almost as as spectacular as his electric car grift, which used the fatuous virtue signaling need of rich leftists to sell electric cars on speed and power”
I love when they step on it like their car’s so fast cuz that just means they’ll soon be stuck sittin in a parking lot and also gettin into hissyfits over charging spaces being taken up by other goobers
You might try and subscribe for three months. I know it goes against your grain, it does mine as well. I’m not paying that grifter Elon one dime. he already makes money off my data, and his AI uses the content we all provide to make itself better. Still, hectoring local officials entertains me when I trigger them enough to respond. They then say some of the stupidest things, usually resulting in later taking down what they said and blocking me as a spam bot.
In your case Eric, it might make sense from the standpoint of bringing people to this site. In three months you would be able to quantify if it made any measurable difference. If your reach hasn’t improved, tell Linda Yanacunivich and Elon to Ef off and cancel the subscription. It amazes me how many people on Twitter believe its the epitome free speech. We as a country really are uneducated about exactly what free speech is, and just how low the bars been set. Reminds me of the part of the Bible that talks about how my people perish for lack knowledge and understanding, Isiah if I’m not mistaken.
X/Twitter has *the* app.
Specifically, the company has an iOS app interface which has been meticulously focus grouped and engineered for the last 16 years to deliver the highest dopamine hit possible on a platform which is likewise carefully and deliberately designed to maximize the addiction.
Dopamine? But it’s such a miserable site 😂 Signed up a couple different times over the past 15 years but after browsing around for half an hour each time I would end up deleting the account. Facebook at least made it seem like fun at first
Eric’s site is as close to social media as I get. I recognize it’s his sandbox and can choose who gets to play in it and what the rules of the game are.
Similarly X can do whatever they want. It appeal to me. I’ve never used it nor will I.
**It doesn’t appeal to me.
Damn autocorrect.
‘Eric’s site is as close to social media as I get.’ — Mike
Large-scale social media sites — Facebook, X, Instagram, etc — are CIA/Homeland Security playgrounds. They get a direct feed, along with personally-identified user IDs.
Sociological data mining is immensely valuable to the Fourth branch of government — Intel. Not just to finger dissidents, but also to get a real-time read on the feckless fever dreams and quotidian gripes of the sore-beset hoi polloi.
The Peoples State of New Jersey even identified a seller of an illegally-modded diesel Dodge Ram on Facebook, and forced him to destroy his truck. Facebook is crawling with cops and spooks, looking to feature you and me as their ‘stupid criminal’ victims in their own Facebook posts.
By contrast, privately-curated sites such as Eric’s just don’t fit into their Big Data orientation. The sample size is too small … and the user ID’s aren’t handed over to the spooks on a silver platter, as the compromised, collaborationist Big Brand social media do.
X carries a lot of useful unfiltered content that you’ll never see in the brain dead Lügenpresse. But I would never register on X, much less comment there, unless under a fake identity/login.
The worldwide web never forgets. In its archives, I am a nobody; a non-person. This used to be called the ‘gray man’ strategy — someone so non-descript and unmemorable that no one can recall ever seeing him. Ninjas only come out at night.
Many sites are doing similar. One popular site calls is premium. For $25 per month they won’t moderate your comments assuming they let you comment. As usual with Americans, their stupidity will eventually kill the hand that feeds them.
Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid for it. HL Mencken
Eric—when I type your site in as I’ve done thousands of times, Google doesn’t show or allow me to come directly to your site. It shows old posts or the archives, stuff like that. I have to click on one of those and then click on home to get your regular everyday site.
Have been noticing this for about a week.
I don’t have you saved or bookmarked —just type it in every day. Just wondering if anyone else having this problem—also hoping you understand what I’m trying to say.
Hi Elaine,
Thank you very much for the heads up on this; I just emailed my computer guy to ask him to look into it!
Hi Elaine,
Get off of Google. I recommend Brave. Eric’s site pops up right at the top. DuckDuckGo is also a good one.
Thanks everyone. I know Google not a good one to use.
Elaine, I’ve had that happen before, a number of times. One way I resolved the issue was to clear the browsers cookies/history/etc.
It was just EPAutos, too.
Thanks helot.
eric, join nostr. would love to see you there.
Hi Steve,
I don’t even know what “nostr” is… who can keep track of all this stuff?
I know what you mean. Nostr is like Xcrement except it’s more open protocol and less censored corporate entity. I basically use RSS and nostr and that’s it.
It’s still early for nostr but very promising. Basically your id is a totally portable public key/private key and everything beyond that is as anon and free as you want it to be.
https://nostr.com/
The finance sectors are not going to buy Harris’ caterwauling and nonsense. Why is she even a candidate for the presidency, she’s a dunce.
Doesn’t smell right.
Trump is drinking Trump kool-aide. Hasn’t a clue.
Both of them want you to swallow their copious amounts of bullshit. Don’t do it!
The Libertarian Party chooses a sphincter lover as a candidate for president. How much more clueless can you get and be even more maladjusted as a party?
I guess Libertarians are the insouciant knotheads of politics or something. They can disband and dissolution is maybe necessary.
All-in-all, you cannot make this stuff up, never will.
The Greatest Shit Show on Earth!
TGSSOE, The Mogambo Guru would abbreviate it that way.
I agree with everything you just stated, drumphish. It is probably why the Dow is down almost 550 points right now. They fear she is closer to the Presidency after last night’s 3 vs 1 performance choregraphed by Mickey Mouse. If I had money in the Stock Market I would be a little worried.
If only Donald Trump would have an epiphany and become an apostate of the Ziocons.
Come on, Donnie, you can do it!
Harris is a lost cause, totally indoctrinated. Dangerous to democracy. har
I appreciate all of your comments, RG, and thanks for the reply.
Don’t think it doesn’t help.
Elon should receive eight dollars per month from everybody, eight billion times eight equals sixty-four billion dollars.
640 plus 128 amounts to 768 billion dollars in one year. The IRS would be knocking on Elon’s door. The IRS would want half, 384 billion dollars.
Elon could use eight dollars per month from eight billion people, dot gov would insist on it. It is always never enough… for dot gov.
You can afford to spend a measly eight dollars per month, not a problem.
Dot gov would fritter every penny out the window and the debt would go to 60 trillion.
There would be enough for a couple of more wars, it’s all good.
Why have just one 911 when there can be a 911 everyday like it is now?
Looking purdy close to it.
It’s been said that X’s model right now is free speech, but not REACH. Meaning you can post virtually anything you want, but the algorithm may or may not allow your post to be seen.
I share your annoyance with the dishonesty of being “verified” monthly. It would be more honest and transparent to call it a “max reach” subscription. Unfortunately, grifters can’t help but be deceptive.
If I were a coder, I would create an aggregator app (I think which is properly referred to as a “client”) that would serve as place to post and receive from all the messaging services (X, Telegram, Truthsocial, Instagram, Facebook, etc.). That way, you could make one post that would be displayed on each an every one of them at once. Likewise, any reply from any of these would be displayed on this all client. I’d also do this with videos so one post would be automatically uploaded to each and every video hosting site (Youtube, Rumble, Odyssey, etc.).
In the early days of Zerodread, I had an account, just one. Every three days or so, I had to sign in again. Don’t ask me what for, it became a hassle.
Leave me alone. I don’t have to be at Zero whatever they are to be hassled to just be there. Fuck you.
I stopped a long time ago.
Lotsa people believe in pay to live.
I think that there is something more nefarious afoot. This appears to be a precursor to the idea of an internet ID. Give us $8/month and a copy of your license, passport or other government issued ID and we’ll give you the world.
As for me, you can find my insightful commentary @RalphNader1965.
I think that X kind of sucks. But so do all the others.
I’m sick and tired of the idea that you must present ID to do just about anything
Yes! This > “I’m sick and tired of the idea that you must present ID to do just about anything”
Is it a love of groveling to want to show/ask for ID?
They believe the ID makes them something as their reality is based on consensual agreement.
Like Meerkat.
Exactly! When I check into a hotel I have to show an ID, yet none of the millions of illegal migrants getting free hotel rooms across the USSA are getting the same treatment.
Hi Mike,
I would highly recommend Bed and Breakfasts. I cannot remember the last time I stayed in a hotel. I have never been asked for an ID (at least that I can recall). The check in is pleasant, there are chocolate chip cookies present, and there is a nice breakfast the next morning. Most importantly, they are usually locally owned so you are helping a small business.
Air bnb costs over $2k a week.
Must be nice.
Verification and authentication has always been an issue. There are ways, using public/private key systems, but they’re outside of any central control and therefore are only useful to terrorists and drug dealers 🙄.
I believe what Musk is doing with X is attempting to move it to a paid social media platform, starting with the blue checks. If he can get enough of the content producers used to paying a monthly fee it will go down much easier when he unleashes the subscription model across all users. Even with ads.
There’s tons of precedent for a pay and advertising media model. It got upended when the newspapers ignored the Internet, and later when cable TV got out over its skis and opened a door to Netflix. The difference with social media is that the content is created by the users. In the case of the big two, those producers are just the old broadcasters and publicists but they’re interspersed with small players who have a big reach. My question to Musk is why not share the wealth? If my content gets eyeballs, give me a little piece of the action, like YouTube (in the case of YT, very little). I’m sure more people would sign up for paid accounts if their favorite “influencer” hyped up how much paid accounts let them live the influencer lifestyle… I mean keep producing the great content you love! And it might make X and content producers less reliant on advertising and “sponsored content.”
But ultimately I think social media accounts need to become more like email accounts and the old WordPress blogs. I should be able to set up my own server, using my own domain name, and attract followers to it. This all exists already but there’s no money in it, and it requires an extra step for users, so it won’t happen. The ISPs used to offer mail servers, web space and Usenet feeds but then the DMCA and free gmail put an end to all that. Most people at the time didn’t even know about that stuff, they just wanted to see dancing hamsters and porn in their browser and that was good enough. Internet Explorer was the Internet and gmail was email.
“imagine the paper not publishing anyone’s letter unless they paid for the privilege.”
Actually that has always happened. You can be assured the people at the paper would only publish subscriber letters. Free loaders can suck it.
Hi Pug,
That’s not true; at least it was not true at the papers where I worked. I know because I helped with letters-to-the-editor in the early years of my career. We verified (by calling) that the person had written the letter prior to publishing. There was no filtering of people who weren’t subscribers.
Exactly, Pug.
Nothing is free. I have to pay an annual subscription to receive my local county paper. Someone has to spend a $1 or $2 to buy said paper to see the article that forms an opinion that makes them write a letter to the paper.
I have never been on Twitter, but I my guess is that Elon has to pay for web content, employee wages, employee benefits, advertising, utilities, rent, etc. You also have to pay for all of these same things, Eric. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a critique. I admire you greatly for allowing everyone the ability to access this site and share their opinion, but this site still costs you a significant financial burden. Donations are extremely helpful in maintaining this, but I am sure there have been more than a few months you have had to reach into your own pocket to keep the site up and running.
I have no issue with Twitter collecting a monthly subscription fee. People expect to be paid for the work that they do and a business, in order to succeed, needs to maintain a stable cash flow. Twitter still allows people to post for free, but you are correct that those that do not pay are not going to receive the same benefits, views, likes, etc. that someone who pays does. Elon could be a real asshole if he wanted and state, “No content without your credit card number on file.” He hasn’t done that, but we can’t complain when someone wants the same service and viewership as someone who pays for it vs someone who does not.
No successful business has been born by giving it away for free. For a business to grow and expand its product or service needs to be paid for and the only way to do that is for the company to charge for their services.
The internet was predicated on the assumption that “information at all times wants to be free,” and while it’s true everything has a cost, Twitter–like most other successful online platforms–was monetized for decades through advertising (much like TV). There was never a need to charge a monthly subscription for Twitter before Elon because of the massive ad revenue involved (both real and potential).
With due deference, RG, I can’t believe you’re defending the subscription model for a “free speech” platform like X. How else do you think society will eventually arrive at “You will own nothing and be happy!”? (Hint: everything-as-a-subscription).
The VC firms saw the drastic reduction in the cost of telecommunications in the 1990s and the breaking of the Ma Bell oligopoly and decreed that data was “too cheap to meter!”
It’s unfortunate that VC money flowed to that free with ads business model. It pretty much guaranteed big social media silos that focused on keeping users on the site instead of actually conveying information or entertainment. And of course advertisers didn’t want their ads on the same scrolling timeline as Alex Jones or some jiggle girl, so content moderation had to be implemented. The DMCA just made the government the bad guy instead of the ad men.
I think that there will be a paid tier model eventually. Facebook and X will be the Walmart and Circus Circus crowd, something else will be the Neiman Marcus… maybe X if Musk can manage to rebrand.
Hi Jason,
No one is forcing anyone to go on Twitter. Actually, no one is forcing anyone to go anywhere. If people wish to join that is the price that they pay. Where does one believe advertising funds come from? A group of people buying a service or product, correct? It’s okay if Pfizer dilutes our airwaves with propaganda for deadly vaccines…as long as we don’t have to pay for Twitter. Is that your argument?
What happened to free market capitalism? One purchases what they use, want, or need. If you don’t want it, don’t pay for it. It really is that simple.
I dunno, thousands of times I’ve read the local & national newspapers without spending a single Dime. Thousands.
At work places (break rooms) or in other’s homes.
See also: libraries.
Hi Helot,
Yup. The point I was trying to make is that Elon is wheedling people to pay to provide content. And then mining their “data”! It is not the same as buy a subscription to a paper for purposes of reading it. And no newspaper I am aware of ever charged people to publish a letter to the editor.
Did someone not buy that paper, helot? Whether it was the employer, the owner of the home you visited, or through taxpayer funds (aka library)? It goes back to my original point of nothing is free. Someone paid for it.
When I go get a pedicure at the local nail salon they have a multitude of magazines from fashion houses. Can I read them? Of course. Do I believe they are free? No, they are being paid out of the funds from customers of the nail salon for services performed.
Splitting hairs, I guess? The magazine in the salon was free to you. That it had a cost to produce does not change the outcome.
If I buy a sheet of paper, write something, fold the paper in half & nail it to a tree so it’s free to read, it is free. Given freely. …Some things are indeed, free.
That such has a cost to produce does not change the end user cost. Nada.
Hi RG,
What you describe sounds like the model Substack uses, I subscribe to a few for free and some others I pay for. The paid version gives more content and other perks, plus I want to support the writer’s work – C.J. Hopkins & Naomi Wolf as examples. I would gladly pay for a subscription to Eric if he was on Substack.
Hi Mike,
I, too, would gladly pay for a subscription to Eric’s site.
I would not do so on substack, because I’d have to provide my payment info to substack, and substack would get a cut. I gladly pay Eric directly.
Hi RG,
I decided not to do a Substack for a number of reasons, chief among these that Substack would own my stuff then. Or at least, have control over it – which amounts to the same. I focus my efforts here, where’s there’s also a vast library pf past material, mine as well the comments of others.
Easily done, just set up a monthly donation like I did.
Hi John,
I already donate to Eric’s site. My point was if he went subscription based I would still follow.
you can easily set up a monthly monthly donation on PayPal. I’ve been a “subscriber” for years.
I probably oughta increase my “subscription” fee, what with inflation and all, but the dam gobbiment keeps taking more of my money’s value away without compensating me accordingly.
Thanks, RK – to you and all who chip in! It’s why this site is open to everyone, And why it’s here in the first place!
How long did you study and observe ecommerce in order to grok its revenue streams?
They dont need subscription fees to cover expenses.
Cupertino 14 years.