S8E5—Does Twitter Survive 2023? A Birdseye View of the “Public Square”

Who hasn’t heard about Twitter these days? With all the controversy, Adam & Chris are talking about how private tech becomes a “public square”—and does Twitter have a future in 2023?

Big questions

• What is “free speech”?

• What is the idea of the public square and how does it relate?

• How has the long history of communications technology been controlled by the rich or the royal?

  • Who owned the most powerful communications network in the middle ages?

• How should Christians speak and interact in the public square?

• Should Adam & Chris delete the Device & Virtue Twitter account?

Links

• A timeline of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (NBC)

• We’re witnessing the brain death of Twitter (MIT Technology Review)

• Beyond the Public Square: Imagining Digital Democracy by Mary Ann Franks (Yale Law Journal)

Dramatic Tweets

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

Screenshots of the Same Tweets

Just in case, you know, the tweets get deleted.

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