Twitter Is No Longer a Creative Haven

I forgive you for coming back to it, but I would like to ask you a question: What happened last weekend?

I woke up on Sunday morning to learn that all mentions of, or links to, "competing" services would be blocked by the social media platform. It was said to be about stopping free advertising of the platform's competitors and cutting down on junk mail. The great link ban was about stemming the flow of active and popular users to other platforms while controlling speech in the name of Musk.

There was a small online riot after the new policy was announced. All mentions of the less-than-day-old policy had been removed from the company's website and social media accounts within hours. Anyone who was online could see it. I wouldn't say you missed it if you knew what I meant.

I don't think that's helpful, but I'm not here to speculate on the true motives behind Sunday's whiplash Both intention and impact are not the same thing. They hit you in the face regardless of whether they intended to or not. You have to deal with that situation. My thoughts turn to the people affected by the policy change. Those who used and trusted the platform to find and promote their work, make connections with others in their field, and rely on for income, wondered if the platform would allow them to continue.

This is what we are talking about when we say platforms and power. Whether it is a CEO, founder, or middle manager, setting and enforcing the policies and guidelines for that platform is an unenviable job. It is not in question. Online spaces can go bad quickly without rules. When those platforms choose to harm their users through policy decisions and when those changes are large enough to force users to adapt or abandon ship, is that an issue?

I am fortunate to know a lot of creatives and journalists. When I woke up on Sunday, I received a message from artists who were worried that they would be banned from the social networking site for linking to their own portfolios and accepting commission work. I read horror stories from authors who were terrified that they were going to be banned from social media because of the Linktrees they were asked to create.

My friends on twitch stopped their streams to talk about the news, worried that they wouldn't be able to announce they were starting a new stream, or add a link to their bio to help viewers find them. The potential for lost income for people who need it more than the people who made the decisions was created by all of these things. Everyone in Silicon Valley claims to want to foster and empower the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that these creators have.