Many tell us what to think. I ask my readers to be skeptical. Question me and others. 
On November 18, 2024, I received a mysterious notification from an anonymous party on X. The message said: “We’ve added a temporary label to your account which may impact its reach. Learn more here.”
The red flag on the note accented the gravity of the message. No one signed that note, but it was apparent that an unnamed bot or an individual representing X’s management was behind it.
There was no link, but clicking on the text opened a private note saying that my account might be engaging in platform manipulation and informing me about enforcement policies. Those links were in that note.
There was no way for me to ask for the cause. I got an option to request a review; I did it a few times but received no response.
That experience made me feel 50 years younger because I started my political writing in socialist Poland when we had government-run censorship. They operated exactly in the same fashion: full anonymity and no way to find out why the censors interfered.
The purpose of the office of censorship in Poland was the same as for that label I got at X, restricting my freedom of expression. Also, the reasoning behind it was the same: protecting the supposedly higher societal values. And like with the censors under the socialistic rule, there is no way to find out exactly why my freedom of expression has been, as the note euphemistically stated, “impacted.”
A little curious, I looked at X for a way to file a formal complaint. There are many options, but the leaders at X do not envision the possibility that someone might complain about issues they do not know about. However, I learned that some help is available on the @Support and @premium accounts. I sent several inquiries but received no response.
I can guess what triggered the threatening notification I received from X. In the preceding days, I responded to dozens of controversial posts about Ukraine and immigration. As a political writer, I have a nice portfolio of articles on both, Ukraine and immigration. So, my responses were brief but included links to my texts addressing an issue in a post. A not-too-smart person or still not intelligent enough AI-driven software saw it as spam. A courtesy response from X would likely have ended the case, but it never came.
This petty incident became the proverbial last drop that overflowed the jug. Since Twitter’s inception, I have seen it as wasting time chatting about nothing. I was skeptical when Elon Musk promised to transform it into a media venture competing with the mainstream media. Despite that, I went with the flow because the established media stopped informing us long ago. They became propaganda agencies for the conflicting interests within the political and financial elites.
Sadly, instead of staying above that, Elon Musk steered X into adhering to an agenda of one of the factions within the elite. It might be coincidental, but my articles about Ukraine and immigration do not align with the political agenda marketed strongly on X. To my disappointment, the sum of my experiences on X proved my original impression that it is a good place for chatting about nothing.
It means that, at X, as it is now, there is no place to find a better understanding of our problems than in any other media outlet. It also means that X is not a proper place for people like me who did extra work to understand what is going on in Ukraine and why we have an immigration mess and are willing to share their findings.
There are no conversations on X between people with diverse opinions. It is even worse. Because of its format, X facilitates the spread of disinformation to a much greater extent than traditional media.
Because of my interest in the media, I will keep my account at X but will limit my participation. It means canceling my premium subscription.
