Musk talked about banning a bunch of journalists from the platform in a Spaces chat. The Washington Post's Drew Harwell, who was one of the banned reporters, confronted Musk about how he could claim to support free speech while also expelling journalists who report information about him that he doesn't like. The banned users had not done anything to him. When pressed further, he dipped out.
The platform was partially removed within hours, with users saying they couldn't access it on their phones. Musk said that the feature was removed to fix a bug that banned users like Harwell from joining a Spaces chat. It would be easy to imagine this bug being quietly updated when the fix was ready. The removal of the vertical feels personal.
The rise in hate speech was caused by Musk's insistence that the platform would be a haven of free speech. He banned an account that tracked his private jet, quashed accounts that made fun of him, and fired employees who dared to criticize him. The account tracked the jet's location using publicly available information. Several journalists, including Harwell, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, and The New York Times' Ryan Mac, reported on the ban from their accounts. They were banned because of it.
The journalist ban was justified by a rule Musk had just made up. According to an update to the terms of service, the sharing of live location information, including information shared onTwitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes is not allowed.
Even though they were banned from posting, the two of them showed up to the chat. He didn't like being put on the spot and he is still reeling from getting booed at a Dave Chappelle show. Spaces was partially disabled after Musk appeared. The Legacy bug is being fixed. Musk replied to a user who asked why the feature was no longer available.
He got rid of most of the Spaces team through layoffs and purges. It is still down on the mobile device operating system. desktop users can listen in on Spaces chats, but not participate, but it appears to be available to at least someAndroid users.
The only company that has been able to make live audio work on a sustained basis isTwitter. The live audio feature on Facebook has been transformed beyond recognition. It is in the right place to get a bunch of people who want to run their mouths. There will be something else in there that will push Musk to the edge if Spaces comes back. He will not hesitate to take it away if that happens.
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