Right wing declares freedom of association a communist plot
Elon Musk’s Twitter financing woes have right-wing panties and brain stems in knots. Lesser vassals’ economic catechism, like their patriotism, is a mile wide and an inch deep. It was ever thus.
Ridicule came thick and fast.
“Dude, free speech is deciding where you spend your money. You made Twitter about you and millions think you are an untrustworthy and unstable narcissist and don’t want to help bail you out of a dumb deal driven by ego. You’re not a victim. Suck it up.” — Stuart Stevens, former Republican and author of “It Was All a Lie”
Since when did the viability of an oligarch’s capitalist venture become everyone else’s responsibility? And other capitalists’ responsibility? Is Musk really equating Twitter’s survival with the First Amendment? Is he arguing it should be a public utility? Is he asking Joe Biden for a GM-style federal bailout? After he’s already laid off half his staff?
Lost your sponsors? Talk to the Invisible Hand!
And is Sen. Ted Cruz, too?
Molly Jong-Fast (The Atlantic andVogue) and others shot back at Sen. Ted Cruz’s hand-wringing.
The former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell is verklempt. He wants jittery Twitter advertisers hauled before Congress for protecting their brands from taint. Imagine what MAGA Republicans will do if given full control of Congress.
That tweet from Josh Holmes drew some pithy reactions.
“So it turns out that the decades of @GOP claims about less government and less interference with private and business decisions were all lies.” — David Cay Johnston, investigative journalist
“Hey Josh, are your Republican friends in Congress considering a law banning companies from canceling ads with Twitter? Just curious, since hearings are supposed to be related to legislation.” — Dean Baker, Senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research
“Ron DeSantis wants credit for the brilliant Republican strategy of attacking corporations as commies leftist pinkos. — Ed Walker of emptywheel
TPM‘s Josh Marshall has some experience with advertising in a political environment. He provided a primer in advertiser behavior for righties who prefer their capitalists compliant:
Let’s say a few words about “brand safety”. Musk and top Republican leaders are now complaining that the problem is “woke” activists breaking Twitter and pushing it toward financial collapse. Nope. That’s not it. Not remotely. Are there people pushing for boycotts or …
“pauses”? Absolutely. But that’s not why Twitter is in trouble. It’s not just that advertisers don’t want their ads showing up next to Kanye West ranting about how his Jewish doctor wanted to have him eliminated. It goes way beyond that. Advertisers don’t want to be …
near controversy. And they don’t even want to be near things that are upsetting or agitating. This is why ALL political media faces an inverse premium in advertising because the content is inherently polarizing. You can sell the same ads, watched by the same number of …
people and actually the same people and you can get more money if the content is fashion or parenthood or entertainment than if it’s politics. It’s because there’s hate speech or terrible things. But advertisers won’t [sp] you to see their ads in a good moment, in a comfortable …
setting. Here’s an example. Why do you think even in his heyday Drudge never had better than low rent, crap ads, and tshirt and supplement ads on his site. Mostly because even though it was a hugely hugely popular site premium advertisers just don’t want to be near something..
so hot and contentious. Half the people are hate reading anyway. There’s always a big inverse premium for uck and discomfort and controversy. That’s just how the ad business works. The nature of the advertising market is actually a big BIG reason for bothsides …
journalism. In a politically polarized society advertising are very VERY cautious about any hint they’re taking sides in the great political or factional debates. They want to put their odds in venues that are above any hint that they’re partisan or taking sides.
Advertisers tolerated Facebook’s sewer “because the power of the ad ecosystem was just too good. Twitter has never had that. It’s never been a particularly attractive ad buy.”
“If you want to run a fancy restaurant,” Marshall adds, “you don’t put an open air outhouse in the middle of the dining area. Just not how it works. Maybe it’s your thing. Not how it works. You don’t get the blame the people who say ewwww it’s way smelly.”
Spoiled children throwing tantrums in the middle of the restaurant are also bad for business (says former waiter).
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