What do you expect on X, which is deliberately manipulated by it's owner to amplify far right content?
Musk thinks he's untouchable, and maybe he is, but that doesn't mean people will continue to listen to the toxic nonsense he promotes.
Off Topic Politics Thread
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What do you expect on X, which is deliberately manipulated by it's owner to amplify far right content?
Musk thinks he's untouchable, and maybe he is, but that doesn't mean people will continue to listen to the toxic nonsense he promotes.
“People” in the broadest sense of the term. If X is one thing, it’s that it’s riddled with bots.
I guess it depends whether it is representative of the electorate. It feels a bit like the BBC comments section full of angry nationalistic middle aged white men. I am not sure it reflects the UK as a whole.
I bloody well hope it doesn’t
Most people you meet in real life seem quite nice. They’re generally kind to each other, including to strangers. They have to be more representative of the national character, than all the swivel eyed loons howling about stopping the boats, don’t they?
The issue is that most people don't feel the need to shout their rhetoric online to the masses and so the communal voice tends to get lost in the noise of the vocal minority.
It's odd that whilst (rightly) trying to protect our kids from the dangers of social media, the radicalisation of our older generations continues unabated.
Well, I'm 75 this weekend and continue to be radicalised fortnightly when Private Eye drops through the letter box. An annual subscription paid for by our daughter and family as a Xmas present she knows I'll enjoy and think of her most times I pick the magazine up and continue with my radicalisation. This forum is as close as I get to what many would see as 'social media'. Rather take the dog for a walk..
I'm fairly convinced my parents (and in laws) are quite beyond any form of de-radicalisation.
Labour are going to get destroyed in these elections. 
www.bbc.co.uk
Councils face 'uphill struggle' after elections delay U-turn
Thirty councils across England now have to organise local polls after the government abandoned plans to delay.
www.bbc.co.uk
You're celebrating paying £60m+ for elections that will then be repeated less than a year later? So when you complain councils don't maintain your roads you will know where the money went.Labour are going to get destroyed in these elections.
Councils face 'uphill struggle' after elections delay U-turn
Thirty councils across England now have to organise local polls after the government abandoned plans to delay.
Oh and general elections happen a six weeks' notice so three months should be enough.
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IMO Labour were correct that this is a waste of money with the upcoming local gov reforms.
But they don't half look utterly shambolic in the way this is unfolding, it looks like they didn't do the due diligence necessary.
Again the issue for me here is more incompetence, political naivety and poor quality communications. The latter two have especially been a theme of their government so far unfortunately.
Part of the issue is that there are also people that aren't particularly nice and view others with a different opinion as swivel eyed loons.
It's a bit embarrassing for them that they've had to pay Reform's legal fees.
I can't understand why they didn't seem to anticipate another Party might challenge this and they clearly didnt bother to check that it was legally watertight, those should be bare minimum expectations.
I was listening to someone from the Electoral Commission on the radio yesterday. They have complete oversight of all UK elections, including organising ballot papers. You might think local elections are easier than general elections, but in fact it’s the other way round, as instead of 650 ballot papers there are 10’s of thousands, all of which have to be printed and in place in polling stations in time for the elections.
Don’t forget that in addition to the cost of the elections the government are paying Reform’s legal expenses, which will be a significant sum to take out of the exchequer.
Shandy
I totally agree with your post. The elections will achieve nothing and are clearly a waste of time and money. It is a pyrrhic victory for Reform if they take these councils as 6 months is sufficient to show they are inept. Chances are they will not retain the councils again.
As has been pointed out , the Reform MPs who defected should be made to stand for election. Starmer should be reminding Farage of this. It is also disappointing that no one has challenged Farage in Clacton forfailing to represent his constituents.
Just think that there is plenty to show Farage is a hypocrite but no one seems to be doing so.
All social media is riddled with bots. engagement farming does work like that. The paid element doesn't X like other platforms constantly trying to improve their anti bot and anti spam capabilities but like all social platforms failing because they are always one step behind especially in the era of AI!
Reddit is as bad. Amazing how many counter views suddenly appear that detail out of date "fact" which is unproven etc. The last few days has seen a surge of pro-starmer posts defending him which are obvs bot ones complete with defensive facts or claims of success that are not true!
The bot thing on all sides on social media is crazy. We just have Ian to worry about.........Ohh and the boring old "deliberately manipulated by it's owner to amplify far right content? which is not true! Him posting or replying of course gives more reach to something but he's not the highest follower account on there to reach as many people as some others.
I've said many times before. I don't do politics on X. I don't follow any political people on there. I get zero, nada, "right wing" stuff in my feeds! I get Crypto and football. That's how algorithms work! People who folllow left wing politics, get what people like them engage with and the left spends more time sharing and pointing out right wing stuff than they talk about left wing politics and thus anyone who is left, follows left, engages with left gets a feed of people like them and people "like them" are all doing the spreading of right wing stuff for them.
That's a bit like people not seeing all this new media stuff saying "Charlie Who? Kirk? never heard of him" when he was a major factor in getting the "Trump message" out there! Just because you don't know of these people doesn't mean it is niche or not representative. There are some people on the internet I have never even heard the name of yet have followings and subscribers higher than famous pop stars etc! When you have "I'm a celeb, get me out of here" you will say who? never heard of this person yet they actually are more famous online than the famous people you know, Its just that you don't know they are famous!
My kids don't know most of the famous people I do. Its just sidemen, KSI stuff like that! Bring out an energy drink? BOOM Prime was literally selling for £9-£12 a bottle in the shops and a black trade in it. It is mental stuff! These "who?" people can have a huge reach and a huge impact without you ever hearing or knowing their name. For most people it seems like instant celebrity because they went from unknown to most to instant front pages when away from mainstream they were massive already without you knowing it!
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