Twitter has (already) become the new Truth Social

I'm going to talk about Twitter again. After having prepared and announced my departure for a long time. Then analysed the first weeks of crazy Twitter/Musk news.

So here I share again my conviction that Twitter has already become the new Truth Social. Was it a cleverly calculated strategy, or the (catastrophic) result of a poorly prepared purchase, and a series of erratic actions by a drifting entrepreneur? I don't know, but the slide seems undeniable, and as I have read here and there, irremediable. The news are multiplying, to testify of the explosion of hate speech on the platform, of the almost methodical dissolution of the moderation authorities. Of the autocratic suspension of journalists' accounts (!!!). And even the brain death of Twitter. All of this in the context of Elon Musk's still violent and erratic management, which alternates between harassment of his own (ex-) employees, dissemination of false information, ultraconservative speech, and so on.

In short. Simply put, Twitter has (already) become the new Truth Social. Except that it still has well over 200 million users, where the network created by Donald Trump never managed to take off (because of the network effect, which makes it extremely difficult for an emerging social platform to succeed).

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La radio publique en plein capitalisme de surveillance

Numérique

Comme beaucoup d'internautes, j'écoute des podcasts. Plein de podcasts en fait, de tous les styles. J'aime beaucoup les émissions de Radio France (Inter, Culture notamment). Et j'ai donc toujours utilisé un logiciel de podcast pour m'abonner à mes émissions préférées et les écouter.

Mais ça, c'était avant que Radio France ne morde dans la pomme du capitalisme de surveillance, verrouille ses podcasts et force la consommation par ses canaux (site web et application) bourrés de traceurs. Un scandale, car on parle ici d'un service public payé par nos impôts, qui ne se contente pas de compléter son modèle économique par de la publicité (discutable, mais entendable), mais se complait dans les pires techniques des géants du numérique. Démonstration en trois actes.

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Rediff webinaire Mastodon & Twitter : Comprendre ce qu'il est en train de se passer

Alternatives Blog Numérique

Voici la rediffusion de l'échange que nous avons eu hier avec @Natouille et @Maiwann au sujet de ce qu'il se passe autour de Twitter, Mastodon, et plus largement des réseaux sociaux numériques. Pour info, j'ai posé mes notes de préparation sur mon jardin numérique.

Ça dure quand même un petit moment, alors n'hésitez pas à l'écouter en plusieurs fois :) Bonne écoute !

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Goodbye Twitter

Alternatives English Numérique

This is the english version of the french article Au revoir Twitter

That's it. I've decided to quit Twitter. Let me stop you right there, this is not a decision taken on a whim, because Elon Musk finally "set the bird free". At the end of a never-ending saga, by the way. But the concretisation of a reflection that lasted more than a year, and materialised in the setting up six months ago of a strategy aiming at progressively reducing my dependence.

I've already explained the reasons for my departure in the two previous articles cited above, and they haven't changed. The completion of Musk's purchase of Twitter acts as a spark, the straw that breaks the camel's back, or simply as an excuse. Choose whichever you prefer. It doesn't matter, because symbols, I believe, matter. It is also a political gesture, against yet another escalation in the privatisation of the digital public space. Finally, it is an opportunity to crack the wall of the network effect again, to create an opening towards more friendly, decentralised and democratic digital alternatives. Like Mastodon and other Fediverse software.

Even though I never loved Twitter, leaving it is not an easy or trivial choice. I'll quickly outline the reasons why. Then I'll share with you the many more arguments that convince me it's the right thing to do.

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Digital literacy is fine. But not just any digital literacy, and not for any purpose - K12 and schools

This is the English translation of my article Éduquer au numérique d’accord. Mais pas n’importe lequel et pas n’importe comment – Partie 2 : l’enseignement scolaire

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about lifelong digital literacy. I wrote a first article (in French only), defending a digital literacy that would treat the digital paradigm as a total social fact, eminently political, economic and cultural. And I encouraged a more committed, more critical digital literacy. On the one hand, with regard to the total digitalization of our society, without reflection or democratic debate. And the hegemonic domination of toxic platforms on the other.

I will continue to pull the thread by focusing on digital literacy in school education. My intention is the same as in my first article: I do not claim to have ready-made answers. But I at least propose to ask questions, and to contribute to the reflection.

This article is therefore primarily intended for national education stakeholders, and please consider that os was written in regards with the French context. If you spot some typos or weird turn of phrase, feel free to let me know :)

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