Sending Out an SOS - Twitter is VKontakte

The social media platform ist Kaput

February 8, 2023, a date which will live in infamy - the day that Twitter broke down, and those of us who had used the social media site as ground zero for our reporting could no longer Tweet.

One month ago, I wrote an investigation for Byline Supplement, Unmusked: How Elon Musk is Using Twitter to Destroy the Concept of Objective Truth. I mapped examples from autocratic countries that killed independent media and communication channels - how they did it, and what the ramifications were. In most instances, the ramifications were deadly, so sacred is press freedom that the countries that no longer have a free press are places where despair hangs heavy in the air and where freedom is a wistful thing of the past.

In the report, I wrote:

When Twitter owner Elon Musk Tweeted his support for returning Crimea to Russia, Russian analyst Fiona Hill accused Musk of actively transmitting a message on behalf of Putin.

Canadian academic Michael McKay agreed, describing it as ‘active measures’ - a term used to describe how the Soviet Union deployed covert disinformation operations.

“Elon Musk is turning Twitter into VKontakte, the Russian information warfare outlet disguised as a social media platform”, McKay told Byline Supplement.

These claims have to be taken seriously. Hill is a foreign affairs specialist who was a witness during the first impeachment of Donald Trump, and McKay is a noted Ukraine expert with a PhD in political philosophy from the London School of Economics.

“Under the guise of ‘free speech’ Musk’s purpose is to destroy civil speech – genuine communication that connects people”, McKay explained. “Musk and Kremlin propaganda do not present a point of view. They seek to destroy the idea that truth and a shared experience of reality exist.”

Make no mistake - we are being attacked. Losing our very imperfect public square, where we all came together during the Trump years to refute the avalanche of lies and to defend truth and to bear witness to each other’s truth, is an attack.

In Unmusked, I wrote:

Twitter is now at risk of a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ except the threat comes from inside the organization, rather than outside.

Although always a wildly imperfect platform, Twitter broke news faster than any other site and the direct global communication it offered for journalists and activists was unparalleled. Now, that’s in danger of being replaced by a free-for-all for those with a darker agenda.

Today, February 8, we saw a glimpse of that darker agenda.

As Michael Mckay noted in my report, Musk’s nihilism runs contrary to the needs of a healthy functioning democracy, which requires a shared narrative of truth. 

“Nihilists want the opposite of civil society”, said McKay. “They want us to be angry, atomized, zombified and lonely individuals, crying out in a cacophony of noise.”

We have to stick together.

🤍

Heidi

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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine and Substack bestseller. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you, as well, to those who support my work with coffee tipsand who buy my ebooks. My reflection, Confessions of a ‘Fox Blonde’ was just published in Byline Supplement. In a review of my latest ebook, the erotic novella Fox Undercover, I’ve been called “The punk rock Anaïs Nin” and a “powerful woman - the book is smart and sexy AF.” Author Greg Olear called it “The Big Sleep 2.0” except with “not so much sleep happening.”

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Save the date: the next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, 2/12 at 4 pm PT 🤍. Invites to register will be sent Sunday morning. Who will be our very, very special guest? 🤔.

More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.