Social media is in flux. The disruption started when Elon Musk acquired Twitter, purged most of the staff, turned the blue checkmark verification system into a pay for play system, and welcomed previously banned extremists and QAnon followers back onto the platform. To add to the chaos, last week Elon announced that Twitter is rebranding as “X.” His stated goal is to turn X into an “everything app,” an all-in-one platform for messaging, voice and video calls, social media posts, payment services, and more.  This rebrand included erecting a giant metal flashing X on top of the former Twitter building, much to the discomfort of the building’s neighbors in San Francisco.

On today’s episode we discuss how emboldened conspiracists are using their paid checkmarks to build clout and spread disinformation. This includes a newcomer to disinformation game named Dom Lucre, who was suspended for posting child abuse material before Elon personally restored his account. And General Michael Flynn and former 8kun administrator Ron Watkins working to revive pizzagate ahead of the coming election season.

We also chat with tech journalist Ryan Broderick in an attempt to figure out why Elon Musk is doing all this.

Subscribe for $5 a month to get an extra episode of QAA every week + access to ongoing series like 'Manclan,' 'Trickle Down,' and 'The Spectral Voyager': http://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous

QAA's Website: https://qanonanonymous.com

Music by Pontus Berghe.  Editing by Corey Klotz.

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REFERENCES

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/27/twitter-csam-dom-lucre-elon-musk/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-right.html

https://twitter.com/MattBinder/status/1684670401027145728

Episode 241: There Is No Twitter, Only X feat. Ryan Broderick

Conspiracy theories, melted online communities and cursed media — we pry open the cracks in consensus reality and journey into the hidden worlds below. The QAA Podcast is a mix of reporting, comedy, and history hosted by Jake Rockatansky, Travis View, and Julian Feeld along with co-hosts Annie Kelly, Liv Agar and Brad Abrahams. Formerly known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

"𝑷𝒐ə𝒕|𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒑𝒊𝒐|𝑷𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒏|𝑴𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒐 '𝑻𝒉𝒆𝑩𝒐𝒚!'

                     (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞
                    
                                                                                                                                                           𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒, 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑖𝑎 𝑨𝑵𝒀 #𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎:

@𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜
(𝕄𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕦𝕞|𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕜𝕖𝕕𝕀𝕟|𝕋𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣|𝕀𝔾|𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤|ℙ𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥|𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕝𝕦𝕧𝕚𝕟

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