The Left Horrified by Twitter | Ivan Puopolo and Onni Rostila | Negotiator 166

Summary

Ivan Puopolo and Onni Rostila work out what actually happened to Twitter after the change of ownership, and whether free speech grew or the centre of gravity merely moved. The conversation turns quickly to the commercial side: costs have been cut, but advertising revenue is squeezed between Apple’s tracking changes and the wider platform economy. The guests’ disagreement over the principle of non-discrimination and platform regulation is the episode’s live tension, and both the EU’s Digital Services Act and America’s Section 230 attach to it. It closes on the Finnish climate of opinion, blocking, and why the columnist field produces such uniform writing.

Two claims that get merged

Whether there is more speech on the platform and whether the speech that gets amplified has shifted are different questions with different evidence. Most of the argument around the acquisition treats them as one, and the episode’s first job is pulling them apart.

The advertising squeeze predates the owner

Costs were cut after the sale; the revenue problem was not created by it. Apple’s tracking changes had already taken a bite out of every ad-funded platform, which means the commercial story cannot be read as a verdict on the speech story.

Where the guests actually disagree

On whether a platform owes its users non-discrimination at all. That is the hinge the Digital Services Act and Section 230 sit on, and it is the only point in the episode where the two are not arguing the same case.

Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: Vasemmisto kauhuissaan Twitteristä | Ivan Puopolo Onni Rostila | Neuvottelija 166. A Finnish edition of this episode is published at www.neuvottelija.fi.

In depth

The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode: English · suomeksi.