You are being, and have been, played. What is happening to the left now is exactly what you thought was happening to the right before Elon.

"Thought was happening" is an interesting way to put it when they most certainly were being censored, and we know that we're even colluding with the FBI to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Not to say that they're not doing the inverse now, but to paint it as some misconception that the inverse was happening before is just disingenuous.

Bro. He's still censoring viewpoints. He's also boosting his ideological viewpoints, which diminishes the reach of everything else.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-elon-musk-uses-his...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon...

Which is the issue? That’s he’s censoring, or that he’s sharing his own viewpoints? Your argument that the latter causes the former is not convincing, as there are plenty of opposing views on Twitter that get exposure.

The fact that my post got flagged (edit: now unflagged) is maybe indicative that the differing viewpoint is the concern.

I don't even see the option to flag a users post. is it some HN elite option?

It's not available to new users (I think there is a "karma" threshold but not sure about the exact number) and you need to to a direct link to the comment (e.g. click the time in the comment header) to see the option.

The first article merely states that Elon has some fairly common concerns, which are amplified because he is popular. It's deceptively framed as if he has the finger on the scale.

That plus journalists have a strong bone to pick with X because they aren't given preferential treatment over the rest of the userbase with VIP blue checkmarks like they used to.

Back in the day if you saw a blue checkmark they were either celebrities, politicians, or journalists. And they were always featured heavily in the old Twitter trending algorithm. The checkmark also made their Tweets standout among the plebs.

He ran DOGE and illegally destroyed science and arts funding across the US government. [0] He continues to interfere in elections, committing what is likely fraud. He silences viewpoints that disagree with him on twitter and routinely interferes with grok’s training to promote his own viewpoints.

Oh and he begged to visit Epstein’s child sex slavery island. [2]

I get that your moral compass might not be fully functional, but I draw the line at fascism, treason, and pedophilia.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Government_Effic...

[1] https://www.thebulwark.com/p/yes-elon-musk-vote-buying-is-ag...

[2] https://people.com/emails-reveal-that-elon-musk-asked-jeffre...

Which viewpoints?

I mean any conservative view points? Immigration, DEI policies, euthanasia, pro life, gender roles, trans sexuality..

Discuss any of these on Twitter would get you banned, until Musk took over. It still does on many left leaning platforms, including Youtube, Twitch, BlueSky, etc.

HN is the only platform I've participated in that tends to allow opposing view points (albeit more left leaning).

If EFF wants to declare that it's now a Left leaning activist entity and doesn't like to engage wit other people, that's fine, I'd rather they just say that instead and be honest.

You can discuss all of those things just fine, both now and then. I have, and never got banned for any of them.

The problem is online/MAGA conservatives don't want to discuss those things. I've never talked to any online conservative who had anything new or interesting to say about any of those things.

“A man can never be a woman” and “ok dude” got people banned on old Twitter.

Well the first is just plain old bog-standard bigotry. What was the "ok dude" in response to?

If anything not in agreement with far left viewpoints is "bog-standard bigotry" and gets you banned then that's the opposite of being able to discuss those topics.

No ‘a man can never be a woman’ is a fact and mainstream view. Disliking your sex isn't an innate characteristic and you have no right to force others to believe your illusion or participate in your gender performance.

More to the point you just claimed discussion of these matters wasn’t ever suppressed and then attempted to suppress discussion of them by claiming this was bigoted.

You're denying the existence of a marginalized group and claiming, "there is no bigotry here!" You see that that is risible, right?

People with gender dysphoria exist. THey are not marginalised: they have the same rights as every other person has. It is not bigotry to not participate in their gender performance, because gender performance is not an innate characteristic, as already mentioned to you in the comment you're replying to.

And in soviet Russia you can criticize the government all you want --- as long as you're criticizing the American government.

I don’t think your argument holds, or at least, there is missing data. We have a different administration now, and I suspect it significantly reduced the number takedown requests, maybe by an order of magnitude. I would expect that the remaining requests are for unambiguous legal issues and therefore have a higher rate of granting them.