Twitter is the worst global social network—except for all the others
It seems "bashing Twitter" is the new countercultural trend.
I grew up in Spain in the 90s, and many people either don't remember or nostalgically idealize the credibility of traditional media.
Like many 90s kids, I discovered role-playing games, heavy metal, Japanese anime, and video games. It just so happened that my hobbies turned out to be The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The press and politicians constantly vilified these harmless activities. They didn't understand them, and they didn't want to. It was an easy scapegoat.
Here's a twelve-act essay to prevent us from forgetting how bad we had it and why there is not a better alternative to Twitter.
1. The Dragon Ball Scandal
In the 90s, a heated debate erupted over the airing of Dragon Ball on TV3, the Catalan national TV. I'm pretty sure this controversy may have happened in all countries where this anime was aired.
Politicians threatened to pull the show off the air, claiming it would turn children into violent delinquents.
Today, Dragon Ball is one of the tamest shows on TV and streaming platforms.
Above: Catalan MP Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida denounces violent language in Dragon Ball Z
2. My parents would rather have me drinking than playing Role-Playing Games
At 16, I had to lie to my parents to play RPGs. I'd tell them I was off drinking beer with friends (which, back then, was legal).
Why? Because they got their information from TV and newspapers like everyone else. And what they read was that RPGs were satanic rituals and that "playing RPGs" meant murdering people.
My parents trusted me, always had. But they suffered cognitive dissonance: when your child and every major media outlet say contradictory things, who do you believe?
It's unthinkable to believe that your kid may be right while the entire press is lying.
Above: Spanish leading newspaper El País writes about "the role-playing murderer"
3. Then Came Video Games
By the time video games became the next moral panic, I was in university, drawing comic strips for fun. I landed a gig drawing for the youth supplement of the Avui Catalan newspaper.
This was the first strip I submitted. They published it, but needless to say, they didn't call me back.
First panel: "Today, on [parody name of a real gossip TV magazine], we will see how [parody name of a real celabrity]'s kids insult each other on her birthday". Below: "True story". Second panel: "Referee, S.O.B [spelled out]". Third panel: "You are a useless wh- [spelled out]". Fourth panel: "It has been widely proven that kids are violent due to video games". In the background: "Psychology congress"
4. Finally, Heavy Metal
Whenever a drunken brawl occurred, and heavy metal was involved in any shape or form, the music was inevitably blamed for the chaos.
Thankfully, I've found press clippings from the time because younger generations might not believe these stories otherwise.
Above: "Young man dies from a stabbing during the Scorpions concert"
5. My newspaper experiment
In university, I decided to read every newspaper at the kiosk to form my own opinion across the political spectrum. For months, I bought the same newspaper daily for an entire week, moving on to the next title each Monday.
The kiosk owner joked when I bought La Razón and ABC, at the time openly right-wing outlets. When I explained my experiment, he was stunned! "Most people stick to their one preferred newspaper", he said.
Then, I discovered all media has biases, not just ones from "the other side."
But the critical revelation was this: every newspaper had original investigations, crucial for holding power accountable. Yet these investigations not only upset the powerful—they didn't interest people at all!
6. The media entered a death spiral which has been their demise
Because, in truth, what sells is blood and fury on the front page. Newspapers must exaggerate—or outright lie—to survive.
Yes, ideology plays a role in each outlet's bias. But the commercial aspect is key: readers crave outrage, the demonization of "the other side," forcing every action by "them" to be portrayed as villainous.
Otherwise, no one will buy the press or watches the news.
The fanaticism turns into a death spiral: you need unconditional fanatics to make your outlet sustainable, and therefore, you must create them by bending the truth.
7. The big realization: they all lied
As I studied, grew, and matured, I became an expert in some areas, mainly tech-related.
I then discovered something shocking: every article about topics I deeply understood was sensationalist, ignorant, or outright propaganda.
This led to a painful realization: If the media lies about subjects I understand, will they also lie about the ones I don't?
The answer, as I very painfully learned, was "yes."
I stopped consuming traditional media entirely—newspapers, TV news, even online news sites. What began as an exciting project ended in utter disillusionment with journalism.
8. The media denies what my eyes see
In October 2017, in Catalonia, I read articles describing events I had witnessed firsthand. Since I don't want to derail the main argument from this article, and turn it into a political debate about those events, I will summarize all my thoughts during that painful period as: What was published in the press didn't match reality.
Family members who lived in a different region called to check on me, trying to understand the situation. When I explained, they didn't believe me. How could they? I was once again the kid contradicting the entire media.
For them, accepting my version, even though it was firsthand, candid, and independent, would mean acknowledging the media was lying. That's like discovering you're living in the Matrix. Most minds simply can't process it. They kept believing the lies. What a shame.
9. And then came Twitter
Twitter changed everything.
What began as a toy-like social network became the world's leading source of firsthand information.
Yes, it has negatives, but today's not the day to list them. We know them all.
But on Twitter, you can read:
- Experts
- Who are independent
- Recounting events they are experiencing first hand
- Worldwide
- At a massive scale
And, on the same Twitter, you can find their opponents:
- Disproving or debating them
- With community notes which are displayed at the same level as the OP
- Which rely on third party sources
This only happens on Twitter. Twitter really is the planet's public forum. There is nothing alike. We may not get another one. And it infuriates traditional media, because they lose control of the narrative.
10. Twitter is a reflection of democracy, the media is a reflection of the oligarchy
I've lived through all this. And I don't believe the quality of information in that old world was better than today's.
So, it fascinates me when people yearn for a return to those times, especially when these people are progressives, not reactionaries.
Twitter isn't perfect because people aren't perfect. There are trolls, toxicity, and extremists because the world has trolls, toxicity, and extremists.
Are you guys new? Before Twitter we had web forums, and before that, newsgroups. Remember "Eternal September"? Remember "Don't feed the troll"?
Such is life. If you believe a world without toxicity is possible, go watch episode 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion. "Congratulations, Shinji!"
The only way to live in an world which is absolutely catered to your liking is to exist in a liminal white space with nothing else.
Let's be clear: the media leave Twitter because they are losing the battle.
Don't get me wrong. Twitter might actually disappear, either as an effect of this boycott, due to some technical catastrophe, or something like that. That's entirely possible and beyond our control.
But if it does, let's not kid ourselves: the alternative isn't Bluesky, Threads, or Mastodon. Nor are 15-second-video platforms that rot your brain; but that is a topic for another day.
Twitter isn't just a website or app. It's a community. And without the website, the community will dissolve.
Something new may arise. But the full network will not migrate there, and therefore, it won't play the global role Twitter does today.
Meanwhile, the media will get back control of the narrative.
The alternative to Twitter isn't "a Twitter without trolls." That doesn't exist. The alternative is the media oligopoly: —articles denying events you've experienced.
Let's hope that Twitter does not disappear, then. I don't want to go back to that world.
11. Twitter was indeed better in the past, but it was a mirage
Why can't we have "a Twitter without trolls", then?
Twitter was nicer before Musk, it's hard to disagree with that argument. He gutted moderation, reports go nowhere, and bot spam has skyrocketed.
The problem is that, before Elon, Twitter wasn't sustainable. That "nicer Twitter" existed as a short flash of light, but it would not have lived for long. Musk tried to save Twitter, obviously not out of his goodwill —again, not the point of this article—, at great cost for everybody and for many meanings of the word "cost".
This is the actual point: would you pay a subscription to cover for moderator salaries? Because if you want a Twitter without trolls, you have to pay for moderators. I do pay for Twitter, not because I support Musk —I don't—, rather because I like Twitter so much in spite of me supporting Musk through Twitter.
If you disliking him personally doesn't allow you to support his company, which I think is a perfectly reasonable stance, then leave Twitter.
Either you:
- Do not use Twitter, or
- Use Twitter for free, but do not complain about the lack of moderation, or
- Pay so Twitter can afford moderators.
If you plan on having your cake and eating it too, you're either clueless as to how things work, or a hypocrite.
12. The good news: you can improve your Twitter experience
If you want to stay on Twitter, you can indeed improve your experience.
Do you want to stop seeing nazis, trolls and naggers? It's extremely easy. Follow this three-step guide:
Stop engaging with nazis, trolls and naggers. The algorithm learns from your interactions. If you click on hateful posts, Twitter shows you more hate. It's like Instagram: the ads reflect your preferences, whether you like it or not.
Clean up your timeline. Click here and use the mute/block settings. I've done it, and my Twitter is fantastic.
From time to time, the algorithm will try to show you different content. If something irrelevant or disgusting pops up, click the three dots and mark it as "not interested" or mute the author.
Because, you know what? You can even mute Elon. I know I have. I just dislike what he posts. No hard feelings. If you thought that the point of this essay was to defend Musk, I hope this last argument convinced you otherwise.
The point of this essay is to defend Twitter, because if you give it an honest thought, not having Twitter is a loss for society. Twitter is irreplaceable. I wish it wasn't. I wish we would all magically move to some utopic network without annoying people. But that's not how things work, Shinji. We'd go back to my parents believing that role playing games create murderers.
One point I will concede to the critics: Twitter is the worst global social network—except for all the others.
This is an english version of this twitter thread
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