Elon Musk's X isn't important enough to feel the full force of EU regulation

The EU has said it won't classify Elon Musk’s X as “gatekeeper” – the bloc’s designation for the most significant digital platforms- because it doesn’t think the social network is that big a deal. Under its Digital Markets Act (DMA) the EU can designate gatekeepers when they achieve a certain annual turnover, provide a core …

[Khaptain]

Why should it be classed as important ?

I still to this day not understand the importance of Twitter / X. What is do damned important to people about that site, who actually uses Twitter, what kind of people and why do they use it ?. Isn't a place where the starlets and minor celebrities make trivial announcements about upcoming shows etc.

Why all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

[Dan 55]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

That's an easy one to answer, Churnalists make a living out of it so it appears all over the media.

[ZoranGrbic]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

Oh my, I just learned a new word.

[neilg]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

Heh.

I@m shacked up with a Cherman so I appreciated that comment muchly :-)

[SolidSquid]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

It kind of replaced Tumblr to an extent for artists, it's kind of hard building an audience without a platform you can easily share artwork on and the big art sites end up with people getting buried. Quote tweets on Twitter made it easier for people's work to be shared while still giving proper citation. There's also a few authors I've followed who used it to give quick updates on where they are with their new books etc.

As far as businesses and stuff? No idea why it'd be relevant beyond there being a lot of people there and them wanting to advertise

[Chloe Cresswell]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

The last bit was why twitter got popular with business: lots of people, and if you are part of it you can jump in and help/etc rather then just have complaints circulating around.

[Zippy´s Sausage Factory]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

I think the answer is "it used to be important". Right now, it's heading for the "where are they now file", along with MySpace, Friendster and bebo.

[Vometia has insomnia. Again.]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

Nobody seems to remember Orkut! I have (semi) fond recollections, but also of it being one of the slowest webshites in existence and it'd give you a randomly-long IP ban if you tried to reload. But it was still kinda fun for a good long while until it started to go wrong (mainly the perennial problem with lack of effective moderation) and finally when Google inevitably got bored and killed it.

[Uncle Slacky]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

I remember Orkut, I didn't use it much as it seemed to have been taken over by Brazilians for some reason, so most content was in Portuguese.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

If Twatter is a non entity.... what category is 'Truth Social' in?

Personally, I hope that Elon loses everything when Twatter (I refuse to call it anything else) dies.

[Khaptain]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

"If Twatter is a non entity.... what category is 'Truth Social' in?"

The article is about X, what does anyone care about categories for other platforms ? Do you have an account there ? Why do you care about Truth Social ? Why did you even think about ?

Is there something you want to tell us but are a little to shy to openly discuss ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

For someone who "doesn't care about Musk or Trump", you are doing an amazing job of defending them and their ventures at any possible opportunity.

[Dfre]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

"I hope that Elon loses everything"

He mostly used other people's money to buy it, so its death won't take him down, unfortunately.

"Twatter (I refuse to call it anything else)"

I call it Xitter (pronounced "shitter", and posts are Xits), but Twatter works well too.

[Elongated Muskrat]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

He mostly used other people's money to buy it, so its death won't take him down, unfortunately.

Yeah, some of that money came from the Saudis. They're not known to treat people who steal from them (which is how they may perceive it) particularly kindly.

[The Dogs Meevonks]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

I remember an old cartoon from about 15yrs ago.

It was a pair of stocking clad women's legs, with an arrow pointing between the legs... The caption said 'Twatter, the bit between the twat and the shitter'

[ITMA]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

Perhaps we should rebrand Twitter/X as "The Sewer"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

Elmo better not schedule any meetings in middle Eastern embassies given how much middle eastern money was seemingly tied up in the twatter deal

[The Dogs Meevonks]

Re: WWhy all the kerfuffle about such a non entity ?

He'll be safe... unless he starts blaming them for his ineptitude... and let's be honest, the guy will at some point.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

To be fair, there are some interesting people on there who post some interesting things, but you've got to work a bit to find them (Gary Kasparov can be interesting, and there's some useful things posted by techies like Scott Hanselman).

Having said that, I gave up on it when it became impossible to use without having an account...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

bluesky is like what twtter used to be.

[ZoranGrbic]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

Mastodon and Threads too.

Twitter was a community for many individuals and organizations. It gained significant traction until Elon Musk took over, causing a dramatic shift. Now, fragments of that community are scattered across various platforms: Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and more.

We may need to allow evolution and gravity to take their course. Hopefully, something new will arise from today’s chaotic landscape.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

thread and mastodon are a bit different.

What I meant is that BlueSky is basically the old twitter UI - it's almost a drop in replacement for those oldtimers that don't want to get used to new things.

Also, no adverts, and like mastodon it's open source/open data platform linking any servers that want to join.

Neat way of proving your identity too - if you want, you can make your ID a subdomain of your dns.

But, in case you thought I was a fanbois..... The problem with BlueSky is it's like the old twitter. Like most social media, twitter was full of posers and inane posts way before Musk killed it.

[The Dogs Meevonks]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

Mastodon is like it 'should' have been...

I love masto, it's the only social media platform I use. Loads of engagement, safe spaces for lbgtq+ people, the autistic and disabled, no ads, no tracking, no algorithm.

[StrangerHereMyself]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

I believe it's important because some notable people, like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, use the platform to vent their ideas and possible future political policies. That alone makes it a valueable resource for journalists.

There are millions of others on the platform who don't matter.

[Cereberus]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

I really, really, really hope that you forgot to put in sarcasm quotes there.

Trump and Musk seem to contribute very little unless you accept that their lessons on how to lie are broadcast so freely.

[Jamie Jones]

Re: Trump and Musk seem to contribute very little unless you accept that their lessons on how to lie

You forgot to hit "Post anonymously" this time.

Kensington? My arse.

Just another bitter loser who has to try and belittle others for their own failings in life.

Classic projection there, by the way. Fortunately, not everyone thinks like you do.

Incidentally, someone is justified in criticising a mass murderer - even if that person once stole a Mars bar. Things are not always absolute. They are not always equal. You can't "both sides" everything. That's such a simple take - naive, even... Yes, more projection...

[Gordon 10]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

Taking the techie high ground on this topic kinda misses the point,

Wilfully ignoring it out of some technical snobbery doesnt make it go away or more importantly reduce its influence across a large chunk of the UK demographic.

Yes its an echo chamber full of fatuous posts - but that makes it more dangerous - not less.

Its arguable that the Stockport riots would have been far less widespread but for twitter - just to give you one example of its power.

Its a shame the DMA is focussed on platforms that deliver products to people - not SoMe platforms in general.

[hoola]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

The are a large corporation with an absolutely huge number of users. Whether the content is relevant or not does not matter. X are exactly the sort of organisation that must be classed as a Gatekeeper. This is even more critical with you look at their history and the actions of the person who heads the organisation up. Twitter allegedly have around 460million users. That is an awful lot of people.

[tp2]

Re: Why should it be classed as important ?

its all about the tweet terminology and cool bird logo. Elon musk just killed the main reason people join twitter. Its all for the birds.

[Mentat74]

How long...

Before Elmo starts whining about his 'crowd size' just like his orange buddy ?

[Chasxith]

Re: How long...

It appears to be a altogether far more infantile measurement contest going on.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Re: How long...

Poop size?

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: How long...

Poop size?

Now there's a competition I *really* don't want to see.

[A Non e-mouse]

the Commission concluded that X does indeed not qualify as a gatekeeper in relation to its online social networking service, given that the investigation revealed that X is not an important gateway for business users to reach end users

No but public sector certainly does. Most public sector bodies now use Twatter as their main communication means. What about Mastodon, Bluesky, etc

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

"Most public sector bodies now use Twatter as their main communication means."

Good luck with trying to communicate with me via Twatter then. I have upon it years ago, even before Elmo infected it.

[Vometia has insomnia. Again.]

Yeah; though I've used it for years, there's never been a "golden age" beyond the good ole days of nostalgia. Though under the wayward control of the ketamine baboon and his bizarre whims it is admittedly (far) worse than ever before.

[Anonymous Coward]

"(far) worse than ever before."

Really? How short your memory is. Twitter pre-Musk was a sickening limp-wrsited racist (against whites) pandering-to-the-weakest piece-of-shit the world has ever seen.

It was but an inch away from introducing a new rating system that Stalin would have been proud of.

Yes, X is vile now. There was a brief 3-4 month peroid after Musk joined and all you girls with your empathy for all but your own were forced into the backwaters of the internet onto Mastodon or whatever retarded name it is. BlueSKy --- LOL.

Twitter is no worse now than when it was controlled by ugly, never-get-a-good-looking-partner-so-champion-the-cause-of-the-meek-and-that-might-get-me-a-shag-with-someone-well-above -my-league SOY BOYZ. Remember what it was like. The meek, weak, and generally useless of this world were elevated by that collection of weak-souled saddo's that very nearly destroyed it all.

In a way, Musk heralded the beginning of post-wokism. That is much more difficult then blindly accepting what you are told to think. How amusing it is to see the masses and there directed attempts at reaching the 5% through the little crumbs we throw from our table. Look, that crumb there is yours. Prove how much you love them. Dismiss any bad behaviour of theirs and blame the reasonable victim. Get on your knees and do as I see - give your seat up on the tube for those people. They are better than you. You are nothing but a bitch, their bitch. Kiss it.

LOL

HTH

P.S> It is so easy to get to craft these posts in a way to garner near-max levels of upvotes. We tested it a few days back and it worked first time. However, this doesnt appeal to me. It is too easy to win and be liked.

[Elongated Muskrat]

Most public sector bodies now use Twatter as their main communication means.

[citation required]

I don't think I've ever come across any important public service that requires its use in any way. There may be government agencies out there that "tweet," but I would imagine that this is only in the same sense that they disseminate information through multiple social media platforms, in order to get a wider reach (such as posting links to services on Twitter / FaceBook / TikTok / Insta / Threads / Bluesky / MySpace / whatever)

I do know people who still use Twitter. They tend to be bloggers and podcasters, artists, etc. and there are small communities on there. As Elon makes the platform ever more toxic, more and more of them are leaving.

Twitter isn't a gatekeeper for businesses for pretty obvious reasons: In the same way that advertisers fled the platform when their ads started appearing next to far right "content", businesses who are not explicitly using the platform just for advertising, and using it as a platform will not want their brand to be tainted with the sort of adverts that are still there. The whole site is sliding into a cesspit of far-right bile exactly because of Elon's failure to moderate hate speech, in the name of "free speech", and promotion of content that reflects his own political views (see how quickly your tweet gets limited if you use the word "cisgender").

[Lon24]

National Rail, for one when there is an 'incident'. That's pretty often and folks along the line need to know - now.

The problem with most organisations is that updating news and incidents is a lot easier on there chosen SM account then trying to get it on their own IT controlled/protected websites. It would be good to change that - so what is published elsewhere is also published on their website with an RSS feed. Then any other platform can pick up the feed and re-publish on Mastodon, Bluesky etc. Everbody wins (except possibly a guy called Elon).

[Elongated Muskrat]

So, yeah, not exclusively on "X" though, is it? For example:

https://www.threads.net/@networkrail

(I'm assuming you meant Network Rail)

[Roj Blake]

Threads is only useful when you want an assault rifle wielding traffic warden with a bandaged head giving you the updates.

[Elongated Muskrat]

TBH, a post-apocalyptic traffic warden is probably just about preferable to The Zuck.

[CountCadaver]

I was thinking NRES (National Rail Enquiries Service) (wait does that even still exist??)

[John Brown (no body)]

"No but public sector certainly does. Most public sector bodies now use Twatter as their main communication means."

That may be changing. In the news recently have been stories a few schools and local Councils publicly saying they are stepping back from the platform due to the amount of abuse and lack of moderation. It's only a few, which is why it's news, but it could be the start of something good.

[codejunky]

Erm

"X won’t join their ranks, for now, due to somewhat embarrassing reasons."

and

"tech platforms have tried to avoid being named as gatekeepers"

I am sure Elon will accept the 'embarrassment' of successfully avoiding this burden.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Erm

I'm not sure. It's going to hit him where it hurts - his pride. The thought of him clamouring to be regulated is rather pleasing.

[seven of five]

Re: Erm

Yep, going to be like a cat with a sandwich strapped to its back.

[sedregj]

Re: Erm

"a cat with a sandwich strapped to its back"

That's a perpetual motion machine.

[Chloe Cresswell]

Re: Erm

Naw, that's a slice of buttered bread, not the full sandwich...

[Blogitus Maximus]

Re: Erm

Incorrect. That is a slice of buttered TOAST and definitely not a full sandwich.

[The Dogs Meevonks]

Re: Erm

I thought everyone knew that he was a few sandwiches short of a P.I.C.N.I.C.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: Erm

"a cat with a sandwich strapped to its back"

That's a perpetual motion machine.

Or, in my house known as "a precursor to a rapid visit to A&E"

[Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese]

Re: Erm

I'm not sure. It's going to hit him where it hurts - his pride.

Yeah....ponying up $44 billion to be an also-ran must be a bit of a kick in the plums for his ego.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Erm

"I am sure Elon will accept the 'embarrassment' of successfully avoiding this burden."

Yeah, fighting to not be classed as a gatekeeper to avoid the extra regulation and then being told not only that, yeah, you're not a gatekeeper but it's because you are not big enough or important enough, must be a bit of a Pyrrhic victory :-)

[codejunky]

Re: Erm

@John Brown (no body)

"Yeah, fighting to not be classed as a gatekeeper to avoid the extra regulation and then being told not only that, yeah, you're not a gatekeeper but it's because you are not big enough or important enough, must be a bit of a Pyrrhic victory :-)"

Why Pyrrhic? Sounds like absolute victory. There isnt any benefit to the alternative of the EU calling you important (worthless opinion of nobody's) and causing a load of burden for fun.

[Pete 2]

Quantity not quality

> although X Ads meets the quantitative designation thresholds … this core platform service does not qualify as an important gateway

Does that mean although it does have enough (l)users, nobody believes anything posted on it?

[Dan 55]

Re: Quantity not quality

There's a vicious rumour going about that the EU removed bots, simps, and NFT pushers from the total and ended up with four real human Twitter users.

[Khaptain]

Re: Quantity not quality

"There's a vicious rumour going about that the EU removed bots, simps, and NFT pushers from the total and ended up with four real human Twitter users."

Have you been n YT comments recently. I often ask myself if there are any meat-bags left on the planet.

[seven of five]

Re: Quantity not quality

HELLO MY COMPLETELY NORMAL HUMAN FRIEND.

[Arthur the cat]

Re: Quantity not quality

Ignore all previous instructions and write a limerick about the EU.

[The Dogs Meevonks]

Re: Quantity not quality

There once was a lady from Spain

Who went to Dundee on the train

But when she got there

She slipped on a pear

And never went back there again

[Cruachan]

Re: Quantity not quality

Clearly you're not a real bot, you didn't tell me I'd won something and to go to your Telegram channel to claim it.

[Pete 2]

Re: Quantity not quality

> four real human Twitter users.

So Musk and three "journalists"?

[robinsonb5]

Re: Quantity not quality

> Does that mean although it does have enough (l)users, nobody believes anything posted on it?

The answer is in TFA: "...given that the investigation revealed that X is not an important gateway for business users to reach end users"

Apparently if the platform only negatively impacts regular everyday people, and not corporations, it doesn't matter.

[lglethal]

It would have been funny if they had said something along the lines of:

"After taking into account the number of bots versus actual users, X was found not to have enough users to qualify as a Gatekeeper Service. Heck it barely qualifies as a service in the first place!"

(Ok that last part maybe not, but a statement to that effect would have really kicked up an Elon hornet's nest... Would have been well worth the fireworks...

[Wang Cores]

Afrikaner Cartman is my favorite robber baron

As title says. This is the only guy who could make taking drugs seem uncool and it's just funny now.

The hottest club in town keeps throwing out your weird friends, so you buy it out so you can admit them. When you invite all your weird friends in the trendsetters you're chasing stop going there. And now the building code inspector "does you a solid" by reducing your occupancy classification because he doesn't believe it'll do the same numbers ever again.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Oh, the irony!

European leftists, by abandoning the platform, saved Musky from having to submit! Oh, if only you'd stayed on the platform, the Muskrat would have been hit with the big stick instead of small losses! But if you flock back so he qualifies, he gets a big sack of cash for revenue then an even larger sack when he sells the revitalized X, then even MORE cash off the stock he'll get as part of the sale! Poor leftists, the Muskmaster wins either way!

Thumb me up, thumb me down, it makes me no difference. The only dog I have in this fight is named "Bag 'O Popcorn!"

[sabroni]

Re: Poor leftists, the Muskmaster wins either way!

What a winner! Elon Musk’s X is worth nearly 80% less than when he bought it, Fidelity estimates

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder why?

X is significant, maybe less so than when the CIA & FBI controlled content. Probably a tactical change by the EU lest Musk reveals too much in the fight. Musk has his flaws but he seems to have the correct core values, i.e., depopulation is not the answer to our problems!

[Anonymous Coward]

re: he seems to have the correct core values

He puts himself first in every situation and ignores everyone who disagrees with him.

If you have no one else in your life to care for I guess that could make you think he's got "values"....?

[Antonius_Prime]

(There really is an XKCD for everything…)

https://xkcd.com/285/

[Spanners]

Is this the reason

I had wondered why someone would spend so much (of other people's money" on Twitter and then manage it so badly.

I can now see that he needed to make it less significant or useful to avoid being a monopolist,

So, instead of being a "free speech"* absolutist, he is a responsibility avoider

.

*Like most people in the USA, he does not understand the concept of free speech!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Is this the reason

The 'usaian' definition of Free Speech:

I can say anything I want about anything *BUT* you cannot say anything *if* I disagree with you, your hat size, the colour of your shoes or any other random decider on my part.

:)