The Difference Between Medium and Twitter? The Complete Absence of Racist Trolls
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And what it means for its long term viability.
Ev Williams is one of a kind.
It takes a genius to establish one unicorn and it takes someone truly out of this world to create two unicorns.
Well, maybe I am overstating the point a bit.
While Twitter’s unicorn status is beyond doubt, Medium cannot be described as a unicorn, yet.
So what does this have to do with this article?
Everything.
Since Musk took over Twitter, the once popular social media platform has become a haven for white supremacists, Incels, Maga activists and racist trolls. The controls which were put in place by Jack Dorsey have long disappeared.
And these changes have been made worse by the fact that X is much more of a commercial enterprise, these days, with adverts popping up everywhere.
One imagines that Medium would have been a unicorn, several times over, had Ev Williams succumbed to pressure from within and without on the subject of adverts and advertising.
And this has made a huge difference to readers and writers alike on this space.
I write this because what we have here is the closest you will ever get to a liberal consensus, anywhere in the virtual space.
Rebecca Stevens A. can publish her thoughts about extreme racism in the workplace and not have to worry about being trolled and racially abused by Medium readers.
My Lovely Suque writes with characteristic brilliance about race on both sides of the Atlantic and there isn’t someone hiding behind a fake account attacking her posts.
Jessey Anthony can write about sex without giving any thought to being accused of being a loose woman.
Jeremy Helligar can publish articles what it means to be Black and gay in the 21st century and not give any thought to homophobic comments from the members in this space.
But it must be pointed out that the restriction of adverts has had a deleterious effect on Medium’s profitability, despite arguments to the contrary from Stubblebine.
