With the exception of Google and Amazon all of these companies are under siege of one sort or another, if they are not fighting between themselves like Oracle and Microsoft and IBM. They might actually have quite a lot to discuss with Trump as to how the world playing field can be tilted in their favour. The Republican Party has been consistently neoliberal in terms of exporting their brand of society, and protectionist in terms of US corporations. That puts it on the same side as Trump and the CEOs.
Trump meets with tech leaders: Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Tesla, Intel
When Margaret Thatcher was doing dirty arms deals with the Saudis she had her son Mark present as she was trying to find business openings for him.
Unfortunately he got mixed up in an attempted coup in Africa and even the Conservative Party realised he might not be the best person to be given an official job.
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I think the most damaging thing Twitter can do to him is to let him keep tweeting
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People go way too easy on Trump. Doesn’t anybody ever lock the doors and restrain him until he says things that aren’t bullshit? The guy is an ignoramus, but what really scares me is wondering WHY does anybody else accommodate him?
Don’t give Mitt Romney any ideas!
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A significant minority of the country loves the creamy texture and taste of Trump™ brand bullshit. Others know it is bullshit but realize the bullshit eaters are voting bloc that can be easily manipulated.
Still others are afraid of offending the bullshit eaters.
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This is incredibly inappropriate that the kids took up 3 spots at the table. None of the Trumps are in the same ballpark, nee timezone, as others more deserving/relevant.
Someone who supports this please explain why as I find this akin to bringing your kids to a job interview or important presentation. Reeks of insecurity and obliviousness.
Does this mean Barron and Melania are also expected to attend official government business at some point too? He can be the Chief of Cyber, she the Minister of (Blue) Steel.
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He’s the founder of Palantir - a shady big data analytics / security company. It’s very interesting that he was at the table, since Palantir is a fraction of the size of any of the other companies.
It’s a signal that spying and intrusive data analysis will continue and grow under the new government. Also Peter Thiel is a co-founder so it’s partly a favor to him.
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The things he’s seen with their eyes…
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If those millions of users included the group of hardcore abusers who make millions of people scared to use twitter? Maybe, maybe not.
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If only the Honeycomb Hideout were real.
Big if. There are plenty of hardcore abusers on “our” side of the isle, so to speak.
Anyway, I don’t think hardcore Trumptroopers will make much of a difference, a lot of them have already moved to Gab.ai after all. User boycotts are relatively easy to navigate out of, for a company with a core audience of celeb-followers who don’t give a toss about pawleeteeecs, and with an overall worldwide audience the size of twitter’s. There are better, simpler ways to make the life of a social media company harder.
In fact, you seem very concerned with abuse via Twitter; could I interest you in some corrective legislative action that will crack down on that? We’ll just make sure they are held accountable for their inability to police their users. No more shall the weakest elements in our society be victimized by the laziness of unscrupulous Silicon Valley moguls! Our children deserve protection, and we will make sure they get it!!
… et voilà, ad-hoc anti-twitter law passed, advertisers running scared, Twitter revenues tanking, company sold and dismantled.
Thiel invited them all there, I don’t think it’s necessarily an indicator unto itself.
This was my point exactly, that Twitter’s business (I think) is in celebrity followers. So people got pissed that they banned Milo, and it may have cost them some business from people who like Milo, but he didn’t have half the followers the Leslie Jones had. Without giving a toss about politics, Twitter has to care if small factions are making the space less attractive to significantly larger groups. I suspect that the sort of person who would quit twitter if Trump was kicked off (which would be a very small and very aggressive fraction of Trump’s followers) has a very low to negative expected value for Twitter.
I’ll put down $50 that if such legislation becomes law it is championed by the "right’ and makes Twitter a place where you can’t call people racist rather than a place where it isn’t safe to be racist. Of course it’s an unfair bet given who is going to have the power to do so.
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This. Just another photo for his wall of “me with wealthy people” photos. It’s almost guaranteed that precisely nothing of value was said at that meeting. I mean, Sheryl Sandberg? What the fuck? And how the fuck did she not just throw her trump-branded water on him and leave?
That begs the question also whether people in online discourse are more interested in teaching about the dysfunctions of racist attitudes, as opposed to simply levelling people. If you describe how it works, does it really matter what you call it? Putting a label upon people to identify your group in opposition to it would be reactionary, and perpetuate the same ingroup/outgroup social dynamic (but obviously not value content) that people accuse racists of.
The “racists - Hulk smash” crowd IMO are no more likely to change minds than those who call people on the left names only to place them within a distinct ideological camp.
We’ve got a long way to go. I think we have a good handle on the values concerned, but should maybe diversify our methodologies in online discourse. And I am skeptical if any of those in the meeting will offer forums which allow for the degree of nuance or conceptual depth required.
You have it right: Simple, obvious, conflict of interest. And you also know this: trump doesn’t give a shit.
Remember that December 15th press conference meant to inform Americans about trump’s conflicts of interest that was recently moved to January 15th (and will most likely never be held at all)? Expect to see any and all US government functions making use of trump-branded stuff, and also expect the thinnest of walls between him and his business interests. Basically, expect to get screwed.
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So just an investor raising the profile of his company - fits right into the new normal.
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Trump’s brand of crony capitalism, certainly.
Ah, that’s why I have never heard of him and his company. Thanks!
