Twitter

So Much for the Decentralized Internet

A recent Twitter hack probably didn’t scare you. Here’s why it should.

• Ian Bogost
• July 26, 2020

The Twitter Hacks Have to Stop

Twitter and companies like it are essential to the functioning of the economy and the country. The government needs to start treating them that way, and that means both requiring them to do a better job on security and breaking them up.

• Bruce Schneier
• July 18, 2020

Twitter’s Least-Bad Option for Dealing With Donald Trump

Every plausible configuration of social media in 2020 is unpalatable.

• Jonathan L. Zittrain
• June 26, 2020

Why K-pop Fans Are No Longer Posting About K-pop

Twitter fan accounts are organizing to support the protests, often before the celebrities they love say a word.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• June 6, 2020

Trump Tries to Sink Twitter, His Oldest Enabler

The president’s two strongest instincts stand pitted against each other: his need for attention and his need to punish enemies.

• Andrew Ferguson
• May 30, 2020

The Utter Incoherence of Trump’s Battle With Twitter

The president’s executive order is opportunistic and Orwellian—but that was the whole point.

• Mary Anne Franks
• May 30, 2020

Trump’s Looting Tweet Violates His Oath of Office

The president is supposed to protect and defend the nation’s supreme laws. Shooting looters is unconstitutional.

• Conor Friedersdorf
• May 29, 2020

Trump Is a Problem That Twitter Cannot Fix

When a duly elected president is bent on spreading misinformation, tech companies can rein him in only so much.

• Evelyn Douek
• May 27, 2020

Twitter Is Not as Important as Journalists Make It Seem

Just 10 percent of users on the platform are responsible for 80 percent of tweets. Yet, one reader argues, Twitter exerts outsize power and influence on our public discourse.

• February 12, 2020

How to Misinform Yourself About the Coronavirus

Even if you avoid the conspiracy theories, tweeting through a global emergency is messy, context-free, and disorienting.

• Alexis C. Madrigal
• January 28, 2020

Why Twitter May Be Ruinous for the Left

It’s a machine for misunderstanding other people’s ideas and identities. How do you even organize that?

• Robinson Meyer
• January 17, 2020

The Twitter Electorate Isn’t the Real Electorate

Social media is distorting our sense of mainstream opinion.

• Helen Lewis
• January 13, 2020

Only Cowards Don’t Get Ratioed

If everyone always agrees with you, you’re doing it wrong.

• Yascha Mounk
• October 21, 2019

The Problem Isn’t Twitter. It’s That You Care About Twitter.

Political leaders believe that the views they encounter online are representative of the “general public.” They’re not.

• Yascha Mounk
• April 29, 2019

Twitter Is Not America

A new Pew study finds a gulf between the general population and Twitter users.

• Alexis C. Madrigal
• April 24, 2019

It’s Impossible to Follow a Conversation on Twitter

Without major fixes to the product, the platform will never be a place for complex discussions.

• Taylor Lorenz
• February 15, 2019