Twitter does not appear to have improved under Elon Musk. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
“Long live X [Twitter], we are the media now,” bragged user Far Fox Ache after his post exposing the Canberra Institute of Technology’s (CIT) supposed favouring of foreigners over locals went viral.
Mr Ache, who hides his real-life identity, posted an email he said he’d received from CIT informing him he wouldn’t be offered a fee-free place in a cyber security course because the directorate was prioritising an intake of international students.
The post was viewed over 100,000 times, repeatedly shared and provoked a chorus of people to complain about how Australians were now second-class citizens in their own country.
There was one slight problem with this email, though. It was fake – a fact exposed by Region – illustrating why mainstream media remains an infinitely more reliable source of news than X or any other social media.
CIT confirmed it didn’t send the email and Mr Ache declined our invitation to show us evidence he’d received it, saying he didn’t want to engage with Region because “legacy media was dying”.
But our exposure of the truth didn’t stop people continuing to retweet the doctored email and spew venom at CIT.
Many on X seemed to share Mr Ache’s sentiments, viewing journalists with suspicion and assuming they’d colluded with the government in an establishment cover-up.
Legacy media is not as trusted as it once was in Australia, and there may be reasons for that. Too much of it is owned by one corporation. Some newspapers are clearly biased and repeatedly push agendas. Journalists sometimes make mistakes or fail to disclose conflicts of interest.
But there are more mechanisms to hold us to account than there are for random people or bots who post on Facebook, X and Instagram, platforms that spurn fact-checking.
News outlets, by contrast, employ editors, subeditors and lawyers. The Australian Press Council and TV shows like Media Watch are quick to publicise our errors. Newspapers often issue corrections, and reporters have lost their jobs over sloppy work.
X, though, is a haven for false news where people are rewarded for being wrong. Research indicates that fake news spreads more quickly than real news on the platform.
Billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X in 2022, pledging to turn it into a digital town square that would allow people to speak directly to the public without the bias filter of legacy media.
But misinformation on X has soared since he took over, with American philosopher Sam Harris, who deleted his X account, summing up what his former friend has done.
“[Elon Musk] has this free speech evangelist gloss on what’s he’s up to, but really what he’s up to is snorting ketamine and tweeting at all hours of the day and night,” Mr Harris told the Bulwark podcast.
“His behaviour on Twitter is obviously, palpably, visibly deranged. He signal boosts pizza gate lunatics knowing who they are … he thinks he’s doing a service to humanity by boosting to 200 million followers obvious lies and conspiracy theories and making some of the most odious online trolls even more famous.”
Meanwhile, Mr Ache’s fake message about CIT remains on X two weeks after he posted it, despite being called out as misinformation several times. Thankfully, our article debunking it remains published too.
Mainstream media may have its issues, but if you think X is the answer, you’re part of the problem.
Loading ...
