It’s official. I’m making my Twitter account inactive.

The account will still be under my control, but I will no longer login or check for responses.

TLDR; The level of censorship has become unacceptable to me.

Why Stop Using Twitter?

I stopped using Twitter about a month ago and it’s been very refreshing. I used to use Twitter as a news source. Once I notced my news sources being censored, I was forced me look for alternatives.

RSS feeds have filled that information gap. I choose a variety of sources as I want to be exposed to a wide range of opinions. The best part is I get to choose what the sources of information are.

This means I no longer have to have propganda pumped into me, or receive “news” that only stands up to scrutiny because of the willful supression of a whole range of facts. Feeds that deliver propaganda, unbalanced content or narratives rather than quality content won’t last in my collection.

The other thing that has been amazing, is Telegram and Discord groups. I’ll be involved in various groups as long as they remain useful.

Censorship Is Not Working For You

Destroying or supressing a point of view is good, not to mention fun!

Twitter isn’t what it once was. It crossed the line from being able to censor, to becoming an active party censoring content that it decided you shouldn’t see.

When I first started using Twitter in 2009 there was no visible censorship on the platform. Not that I ever saw, anyway. Discussion could be “robust” to say the least.

Freedom from censorship has always been a topic that has always been very close to my core, and the heavy handed moves by Twitter have come into direct conflict with those values.

Censorship is now an active part of the Twitter experience. It has been getting worse for some time now. Accounts I’ve followed are suspended or banned entirely. Tweets can’t be posted, or are removed. Links to external sites have warnings attached. In the western world people often point at WeChat as an example of a servce that has heavy digital censorship and surveilance. Twitter is at least half way down that road.

I’ve even had to edit my own tweets on occassion so that they could be sent. Trying to post the version I couldn’t post later failed. It’s amazing to see it in action on your own tweets.

I refuse to continue using a service that actively censors or damages at least half of the discussion on multiple topics. Which half will be censored? The half that Twitter either chooses, or is told, to censor.

This funny thing with censorship is that it doesn’t matter which side of a debate you’re on, when a whole point of view is eliminated or supressed it leads to a poorer discussion and outcome. However this only matters in a world where facts and data still count. We do not live in a world like that anymore, and censorship thrives in this environment.

When people cheer censorship I’m always blown away because sooner or later it is their view that will be censored.

Censorship always has a chilling effect on free speech. If speech can’t be open you’re not longer having meaningful discussions.

If meaningingful discussion can no longer happen then why debate? Why have an opinion? Why say anything at all if you are only permitted to parrot the accepted political narrative of the time?

Maybe that is the point of the censorship. To encourage normal people to leave the thinking and publishing of “facts” to the leaders. They’ve got your best interests at heart, right?

The number of propaganda bots is just crazy now. You can find the exact same replies posted from literally 100’s of accounts.

Twitter bots in action replying to tweets.

Will I Miss Twitter?

Twitter has been toxic for me on a number of levels for some time, even well before the current situation. It finally crossed a line for me and I’m just taking the last step.

Twitter has become something like a toxic relationship. You’re far better off without those in your life.

Will I miss it? Sure. But I’ll miss what it once was, not what it is now.

Goodbye, Twitter.