Category: Media

Billionaire-owned media makes the “free-press” a mouthpiece for the ideology of the super rich. It ignores the urgency of the climate crisis, radicalizes readers, and actively promotes right-wing propaganda.

So here’s a quick rundown of billionaire-owned/controlled media outlets:

• Elon Musk, Twitter (with financial-aid from the Saudi billionaires)
• Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
• Rupert Murdoch, News Corp (Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, several Australian outlets)
• Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg
• Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post 
• John Henry, The Boston Globe 
• Glen Taylor, Star Tribune 
• Patrick Soon-Shiong, Los Angeles Times 
• Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Review-Journal 
• Joe Mansueto, Inc. and Fast Company 
• Laurene Powell Jobs, The Atlantic 
• Marc Benioff, Time 
• Chatchaval Jiaravanon, Fortune 
• Cox Family, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Mortimer Zuckerman, US News & World Report
• Barbey Family, Village Voice
• Stanley Hubbard, Hubbard Broadcasting
• Carlos Slim Helu, The New York Times
• Warren Buffett, regional papers (~70)
• Lord Rothermere, The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and the i
• The Barclay Brothers, The Telegraph and the Spectator
• Patrick Drahi, Libération and L’Express
• Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev, Novaya Gazeta, the Evening Standard, and The Independent

Billionaires also have collectives or consortiums – like the Economist, which is owned by the Agnelli family, the Cadburys (chocolate), the Rothschilds (banks) and the Schroders (banks), along with some staff and former employees.

So how does one escape the tyranny of Twitter? Here are a few articles to help you decide if Mastodon is worth moving to ( I have).

techdirt	Why Would Anyone Use Another Centralized Social Media Service After This?
Wired	Mastodon Is Hurtling Toward a Tipping Point
Guardian	Firefox and Tumblr join rush to support Mastodon social network
The Verge	Where to find Verge staff on Mastodon
Mozilla Blog	Mozilla to Explore Healthy Social Media Alternative
CNN	As Twitter backlash grows, rival Mastodon reaches 2.5 million monthly users
techdirt	I Speak Fluent ‘New Social Media CEO Who’s In Over Their Head’
Business Insider	Elon’s stale playbook
Techmeme	Top News
Wired	Mastodon Features That Twitter Should Steal (but Won’t)
SF Chronical	Elon Musk polls Twitter users on whether he should step down, hours after another controversial policy change
The Hollywood Reporter	Twitter Bans Linking to Mastodon, Facebook, Truth Social and Other Competitors
IGN	Twitter Will Now Suspend or Remove Accounts Promoting Links to Some Social Media Platforms
USA Today/AP	Twitter bans users from promoting rival social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon
New York Times	Twitter to Ban Accounts That Promote Rival Social Media
Reuters	Twitter prohibits users from promoting accounts on Facebook, Mastodon
TechCrunch	Twitter bans posting of handles and links to Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and more
The Verge	Twitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors
The Hill	How Musk may reinvent the internet without even trying
MacStories	MacStories Is on Mastodon with Its Own Server
Daily Beast	Elon Musk Boots WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz From Twitter
WSJ	How to Use Mastodon, the Social-Media Platform Blocked by Elon Musk’s Twitter
PC	Elon’s Mastodon Vendetta Makes Us All Less Safe
Forbes	Elon Musk Bans Journalists On Twitter As More Flee To Mastodon: Here’s Who To Follow
Washington Post	A guide to getting started with Twitter alternative Mastodon
The Guardian	Twitter’s suspension of journalists sets ‘dangerous precedent’, UN warns
MSNBC	McNamee: Musk Twitter suspensions a ‘direct attack’ on journalism & democracy
CNET	What Is Mastodon, the Alternative Social Network Now Blocked by Twitter?
The Intercept	Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I’m One of Them.
BBC	Twitter blocks users from sharing Mastodon links
Forbes	Twitter Suspends Accounts For Rival Mastodon And Several High-Profile Journalists
Business Insider	Musk’s Twitter is blocking links to its competitor Mastodon
Bloomberg.com	Twitter Suspends Accounts of Mastodon, Journalists Covering Musk
TechCrunch	Twitter suspends Mastodon’s account and bans links to Mastodon servers
CNET	Twitter Suspends Account Encouraging People to Join Mastodon
The Hill	Twitter suspends Mastodon’s official account
CNN	Elon Musk’s Twitter bans CNN, NYT, WaPo journalists without explanation
The Verge	Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon
Thoughtworks Podcast	Welcome to the fediverse: Exploring Mastodon, ActivityPub and beyond
CYBERSCOOP	Fleeing Twitter users face uncertain privacy, security features on alternative platforms
The Desk	LGBT server on Mastodon blocks group for journalists
The Popehat Report	Goodbye, Twitter Everything Ends, And That’s Okay.
ZDNET	You’ve got Mastodon questions, I’ve got answers
Tech Policy Press	Priorities to Make the Fediverse Sustainable
The Next Web	Vivaldi browser backs Mastodon to free social networks from Big Tech
Bleeping Computer	New Vivaldi version integrates Mastodon into the browser sidebar
TechCrunch	Third-party Twitter app makers turn their attention to Mastodon
Business Insider	Migration to other social media platforms shows no signs of slowing
The Verge	The race to build a better Twitter
PC Magazine	EU Leader Uses Mastodon to Tell Elon Musk How Twitter Needs to Be Regulated
Vanity Fair	“NO ONE IS GOING TO KILL TWITTER EXCEPT ELON”: AS MUSK’S BLUE BIRD REELS, THE ARMS RACE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE IS ON
Dewey Square	A Snapshot of the Twitter Migration
Electronic Frontier Foundation	How to Make a Mastodon Account and Join the Fediverse
Slate	Social Networks Are Going Much, Much Smaller
EscapingTech	I Was Wrong About Mastodon
CNET	Confused by Twitter ‘Replacement’ Mastodon? Here’s How to Get Started
NOEMA	Mastodon Isn’t Just A Replacement For Twitter
Ars Technica	How secure a Twitter replacement is Mastodon? Let us count the ways
Reason	Mystified by Mastodon? We’re Here To Help
Time	Thousands Have Joined Mastodon Since Twitter Changed Hands. Its Founder Has a Vision for Democratizing Social Media
The Markup	The Markup: Mastodon’s Moment
CMS Wire	How to Pick a Mastodon Server
Axios	How Mastodon, a favorite Twitter alternative, works
CNET	Twitter Migrants Flock to Mastodon: How Does the Open Source Social Network Work?
Android Authority	Elon Musk just ended Twitter SMS 2FA (Update: Appears to be back up for some)
WE GOT THIS COVERED	Some Twitter accounts may become permanently inaccessible thanks to Elon Musk’s meddling
The Guardian	Musk says he has ‘too much on plate’ amid reports of more Twitter job cuts
CNBC	SpaceX just bought a big ad campaign on Twitter for Starlink
Politico	Dems want answers from Musk’s Twitter
Mint	‘Embarrassingly wrong’: Elon Musk’s Twitter theory rubbished by ex-employee
Axios	Elon Musk’s Twitter sees rise in racial slurs, hate speech
AP	Twitter drama too much? Mastodon, others emerge as options
MIT Technology Review	Twitter’s potential collapse could wipe out vast records of recent human history
Politico	‘Serious risk of breach’ at Musk’s Twitter
CNN	Playbill leaves Twitter, saying the site ‘expanded tolerance for hate’
Mashable	Surprise? Elon Musk’s $8 Twitter Blue hasn’t made very much money so far.
Human Rights Watch	Musk Chaos Raises Serious Rights Concerns Over TwitterLayoffs of Critical Staff, Impersonation Issues Dog Early Days
The Guardian	Joining the herd: what’s it like moving from Twitter to Mastodon?
The CHIVE	Twitter is a sh*tshow right now & the memes aren’t holding back (28 Photos)
The GuardianABC AU	Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co apologises after fake Twitter account says insulin is free as Elon Musk rolls back verification
Washington Post	Elon Musk’s first big Twitter product paused after fake accounts spread
The Medical Republic	Is #medTwitter really leaving Twitter?
LA Times	What to do if you’re worried about the latest Twitter chaos
CNN	Elon Musk’s Twitter faces its ‘Titanic’ moment as executives and advertisers flee while trolls run rampant
The Guardian	Exodus continues at Twitter as Elon Musk hints at possible bankruptcy
The Verge	Inside Elon Musk’s first meeting with Twitter employees
The Verge	Twitter reactivated the ‘Official’ gray check for accounts that are actually verified / Things are going just great and nothing is on fire.
Yahoo	Twitter Gives Blue Checks to Fake Tesla Account, Fake Politicians and Real Nazis on Twitter Blue Day 2
The Verge	Elon Musk is putting Twitter at risk of billions in fines, warns company lawyer
NBC	Two Twitter executives resign as Musk’s chaotic run continues
UX Collective	Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is designed to be “antiviral”
Toronto Star	I fled Twitter to check out Mastodon. Here’s what I found
CNET	What Is Mastodon? The Twitter Alternative for People Flying the Coop
Rasberry Pi	Raspbery Pi: An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting
ZDNet	ZDNet: Why Twitter will fail shortly — Sometime soon, Twitter will crash badly. Here’s why.
MIT Technology Review	MIT Technology Review: Here’s how a Twitter engineer says it will break in the coming weeks
Huffpost	What’s The Deal With Mastodon, The Twitter Alternative?
The Atlantic	Elon Musk Is Bad at This: The Musk era of Twitter has so far been defined by unhinged tweets, fleeing advertisers, and botched layoffs.

Begin your move to Mastodon by reading this. Here’s a list of servers to join. I’m here (still trying to figure it out).

The real question now is: how do we build a media network that actually serves the public interest?