Been thinking about this and want to know if it bugs anyone else.
It’s crazy to me that Twitter, Reddit and Facebook all cut off API access and people just went quiet on it. There was noise and complaints but no solutions. Usually when stuff like this gets locked down a counterculture shows up around it. Workarounds, open alternatives, people who make it their thing to keep it open. Like file sharing or ad blockers.
That didn’t really happen this time and I can’t figure out why. With all the propaganda and fake stuff out there right now, wouldn’t being able to see what’s spreading be important to understand? And isn’t them shutting it down a pretty large signal that it is important?
Maybe there’s a boring explanation I’m missing. But the part that gets me is the other possibility, that there’s some kind of suppression force we might not even be aware of.
Is that terrifying to anyone else or am I overthinking it? Just curious what people who were around for it think.
99% of users on these platforms don’t even know what an API is.
Sure but more of us do here don’t we? I would have thought more people here would share ways to collect it. If we still had access I bet we would have learned alot about how the propaganda is spreading. Who, what and where it was originating from. It’s just strange to me there isn’t a ton of interest in it. Like barely any.
I took people saying they’d punch a nazi to mean they would be willing to fight nazis. Instead I kind of feel like people saw nazis take over their places and went ok we’re going to go over here now.
Whereas I see fighting back as finding out how many comments are needed to tip a post in favor of the left wing, and kicking the nazis off the platform or stopping thier momentum. You know fir mah lazer shit. Leftist coordinate back in the day. Today it’s just not happening.
I just feel like the moment arrived and we were asleep.