PookaMustard: I don't know about the whole FBI thing, but what I did see of Twitter back then was that it was. Moderated. I like being in a moderated place, not in a toxic wasteland. So that was sort of the charm.
I initially thought Muskrat would just be the new owner, the news cycle would go the rounds, and then business as usual. Twitter's owner changed his name. No big deal. Oh boy I was wrong. Shoved himself into the algorithm so it was near impossible to avoid him even with a block, kept removing the moderation I liked about Twitter to begin with in the name of "muh free smooch", and then censored parody accounts made specifically to make fun of him. When I had enough with Twitter, I deleted the app off my phone and logged out of the browser.
I'd later switch to Mastodon and then Bluesky. They're so much better. All I wanted is to see a feed of people I want to follow and see art, nothing more. Bluesky lets me do that.
X is definitely less moderated now but there's also more opinions allowed, it's a balancing act I suppose. Previous Twitter went as far as to ban a president they disagree with from the website. I don't believe anything close to this has happened to other parties whilst Elon has been the owner.
Elon definitely has made some other decisions I disagree with (like having to log-in to read comments and having his posts featured everywhere) but I do believe X and Reddit would be the same echo-chamber platforms had he not bought it. Instead, we've seen how much more exclusive and alienating Reddit has become whilst X still has gone in the opposite direction. It probably doesn't feel that way since Trump's victory, but note that you can accuse Elon of being Hitler on his own platform, receive massive engagement, and you won't be banned.
In any case, there's little reason to use the app if you just want a simpler browsing experience and don't care much for the additional fluff.
