Elon Musk Says He Owns Everyone's Twitter Account in Bizarre Alex Jones Court Filing

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Joker@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.zip⁩

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-says-he-owns-everyones-twitter-account-in-bizarre-alex-jones-court-filing-2000530503

Does it feel like your X account belongs to you and you can do whatever you want with it? That’s not true, according to a new court filing from the social media company formerly known as Twitter. It’s an argument that X is making in order to throw a wrench in The Onion’s recent purchase of InfoWars, the conspiracy theory media company run by Alex Jones. And it’s a great reminder that you don’t actually own what you think you own in the digital age.

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hypeerror@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
So if X-itter accounts were to threaten persons or places that were in the interest of the state to protect that responsibility lies on Musk?

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- Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Gee wizz, I don’t think you understand Capitalism at all. Musk gets the profits and you get the liability.
  
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  - hypeerror@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    If only he were also trying to sue advertisers that no longer want to do business with him. It would be the perfect storm of what is good comes to me and what is bad is yours.
    
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- jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Yes. That’s why you face criminal charges and if you dont moderate
  
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BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
They should totally host a mastodon instance at infowars URL

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- jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Minfowars
  
  m.infowars subdomain
  
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dragonfucker@lemmy.nz ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
The Onion should allow Musk to block the sale of the Twitter handle, then sue Alex Jones for falsely advertising the sale of an account he can’t sell and sue Twitter for infringing on their trademark of the InfoWars brand.

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- CileTheSane@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Alex Jones had no say in what was being sold. The Court seized his assets and sold them to pay the people he owes.
  
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todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Elon Musk parody accounts no longer required to advertise themselves as parody, since they really are Elon Musk now.

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superkret@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I mean, if someone lets me into their house, points me to a whiteboard with a pen and tells me to write whatever I want so the other people in the house can read it…
Do I own the whiteboard? Or the pen? Or have control over any of it?

No. The owner of the house can lock me out and wipe off or change what I wrote at their leisure.

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- Hawke@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  You do have some control, in the form of copyright. Also the analogy doesn’t hold up well since you’re not using their “pen” and they only let you reach inside through the window. And the audience is outside the house.
  
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  - Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    And to continue that analogy- Twitter didn’t assign the name, the user created it so they hold copyright on the name.
    
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  - piccolo@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    Except when you enter the home, you accepted the TOS that transfers copyright to the owner of the home.
    
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  - charonn0@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    Copyright generally applies to substantial creative works, not conver
    
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- Taleya@aussie.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  A better analogy is i hand you a bullhorn and you shout at randos.
  
  Do i own your words, even though it’s my bullhorn? No.
  
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  - superkret@feddit.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Depends, actually.
    
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  - capital@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    What does your EULA say?
    
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- x00z@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  No but somebody else can own the creator of what was written on the board. That might be a bit weird in today’s terms if it’s a person, but if it’s a company that wrote that stuff it can legally become somebody else’s, which is what is happening with Infowars.
  
  Twitter has always allowed a company to own their own account, and even transfer it and be used by multiple people. For example how Biden’s account is used by his staff. But now X starts meddling with this specific case, which is very questionable.
  
  And if you’re going to say that “it’s his own account”; lawyers were saying that his “personal brand” is too heavily intertwined with Infowars and that it should be part of the Infowars brand.
  
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DrDystopia@lemy.lol ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It was always this way, on all platforms.

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TheBat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Unrelated but can someone overdose on Ketamine?

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- Cornpop@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It’s practically impossible sadly.
  
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- leisesprecher@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Yes, but that means unconsciousness (and later death).
  
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- funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  yes but I think I saw you have to take like 4 grams
  
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circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Not supporting Musk here, but there is some truth to the claim in the headline.

One major danger we currently have is everyone thinking that social media platform accounts are property. They simply aren’t – at least, not yours. If the company decides to terminate your account, they can do that. It will be supported by the TOS. You do not own it.

You also don’t own data you put on it. Post a bunch of photos to FB? They own them and can do whatever they want with them.

The danger is that these things are so ubiquitous they appear like information utilities, but they are not. They are corporate services wholly owned by their respective corporations. It is something that makes federated systems stand out from the crowd (not that you own an account there either, but there at least is not a single centralized corporate owner).

More people need to be made aware of this.

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Cornpop@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
He does though. Read the fine print. You are just allowed to use it. Not really surprising.

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the_tab_key@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I hadn’t logged into Twitter in years. Just signed in to delete my account. He can have it back.

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- ZigZagZebra@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  same, deleted an inactive account.
  
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- DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  You think it’s really deleted in the back end? Adorable
  
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  - GhiLA@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    …I don’t care.
    
    I left Facebook but I left my account a husk. If the last thing they ever know is that I went to Krispy Kreme and got a pumpkin spice donut in 2017, then that’s cool with me.
    
    "After eating the donut, the trail goes cold, Mr. Zuckerberg. We just don’t know!*
    
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  - DrDickHandler@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    You missed the point, congrats.
    
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  - the_tab_key@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    No, I don’t. But that’s another data point for them to see people leaving their service.
    
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Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Not mine you faker. I never signed up for any of your crap.

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- Cris_Color@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=ockHHFfZ3b8&t=7
  
  Sorry. It was my immediate first thought. 😅
  
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selokichtli@lemmy.ml ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
That pic, though: Peak American alpha males.

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- DrDickHandler@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It’s amazing how many “bro” dudes are riding their dicks.
  
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- AndrewZabar@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  You mean rich spoiled man-children who are nothing more than insecure adolescent tweens going through puberty and having sexually frustrated tantrums because girls just laugh at them, and their narcissism is so all-consuming that their only emotion is disdain and goal in all the world is more and more self-gratification and the insatiable pursuit of total control of everything, because they know deep down they will never ever be the recipients of genuine respect or admiration.
  
  Yeah that’s what I thought you said. Slight faux pas.
  
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- Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Fake tan. Fake hair.
  
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- CileTheSane@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  alpha
  
  Unpredictable behavior, unfit for the general public to interact with.
  
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hightrix@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
He does. Same with any other platform you do not “own” your account. You have credentials to login to an account you created.

This should not be news to anyone. This applies to all social media, all entertainment, and every other account you use online.

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- Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Which is why it’s really important to have some trust /reputation if using these services.
  
  Why anyone would use a service run by a fascist entitled madman who literally represents the very worst version of humanity is beyond me and they deserve whatever they get.
  
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Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It’s days like this that I’m just so happy and proud of myself for never doing the whole Twitter thing.

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Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Good thing I did jackshit with my Twitter account and had it fully deactivated. It was hacked and posted some spam ads that I knew nothing about.

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jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
If course he does. Did you think differently?

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Hackworth@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Image

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mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Alex Jones is bankrupt.

His property has been auctioned off.

Insisting that it’s his property is not a counterargument.

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