Helen Duncan
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Helen Duncan
@hdduncan.bsky.social
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CEO of Blueshift Memory | Semiconductor veteran | Still writing about semiconductors, RF & microwave, wireless, 5G/6G
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Reposted by Helen Duncan
josiahmortimer.bsky.social
NEW: "Moving Off X: An Open Letter from UK Journalists"

UK political journalists: "Twitter was, for a long time, the place to be for UK politics. We believe that time is now over...

"We have taken the decision to move over to other platforms, in particular Bluesky" docs.google.com/document/d/1...
We have used Twitter – now X – for many years. It has been a resource for story-gathering, network-building, and a megaphone for getting public-interest stories to a wider audience. And it has been a well of ideas and discourse. Unfortunately that well is now poisoned. All of us have seen X become more toxic and broken since Elon Musk took over in 2022. Feeds have become less useful. Engagement has plummeted, except for those who will pay. Replies gain traction not through merit, but through the corrupted blue-tick system. We have seen hate speech and abuse deliberately dialled up and amplified, boosted not just by the algorithm, but by the owner himself. And England’s racist summer riots were one of many factors suggesting to us that X is not a neutral platform, but a space that now seems to glorify misinformation at a great cost to our public sphere. Millions of people are ditching X, and we are doing so, too. We have taken the view that it is no longer a useful tool for objective reporting, but a weapon being wielded by a narrowing ideological set. A tipping point is coming. Perhaps we are already in it. After much consideration, we have taken the decision to move over to other platforms, in particular Bluesky. For some of us that means instantly deleting our X accounts, for others it is a more gradual process. But we are all putting the majority of our efforts into building more constructive online spaces elsewhere for political dialogue and reporting. Bluesky is becoming a new hub for political discussion, and we encourage other UK journalists to join and become active. We are already seeing far higher engagement on our posts there than we’ve seen recently on X. And importantly, the mechanisms to limit abuse actually work. We enjoyed Twitter while it lasted. It played an important role in shaping many of our careers. And it was, for a long time, the place to be for UK politics. We believe that time is now over. Twitter is dead. Long live Twitter
November 15, 2024 at 11:51 AM