Imagine a tweetThe name for a message posted on an X (formerly Twitter) account. as a juicy hunk of meat being dangled by a burglar in front of a hungry guard dog. He drops the delicious steak and the dog, distracted, feasts on the meat, unaware that the burglar has snuck into his house.

The comparison might seem strange, but Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan said that it helps us to understand our relationship with technology platforms. Posts (the meat) are a distraction for our minds (the guard dog). The distraction allows the platform (the burglar) to sneak into our lives and wreak havoc.

The idea is simple: sometimes, what we post is less important than where we post it. Platforms have influence.¹

This week, some say that McLuhan's ideas are more relevant than ever. Billionaire Elon MuskA South African-born entrepreneur whose companies have included the online payment service PayPal. He now controls Twitter, renamed 'X'. has purchased Twitter for $44bn (£39bn) dollars, and his actions have caused many users to boycottTo withdraw relations from an organisation as a punishment or protest. The word comes from the surname of a Victorian Irish landlord who was subject to a boycott from poor farmers who demanded rent reduction. the platform. Some of his first actions were to fire almost half of the company and declare that he would charge users $8 (£7) per month for account verification.²

Most worryingly, Musk has vowed to restore freedom of speech to Twitter, leading to an increase in tweets using racial slurs and hate speech.³

Celebrities Gigi Hadid and Whoopi Goldberg have dramatically left the platform in response. Some say that they cannot support a social media site which is encouraging hate speech and bad company practices.

But opinions are divided. Twitter itself has reported extremely high user growth following Musk's takeover of the company, as Musk himself has many loyal fans.

And besides, no major social media site is perfect. Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have been blamed for causing mental health issues and for stealing users' data.

Some say that, instead of abandoning Twitter, we should try to use it to fight the hate and spread positive messages.

No: It will be no use trying to write sense on Twitter any longer. Any tweet of substance will be suffocated in the masses of abuse and hate speech. Boycotting something is the most effective way of enacting change.

Yes: Practically speaking, the best we can do with a bad situation is stay on the platform and try to promote some kind of balance. Reasonable people must stay on the platform.

Or... We should try to support other Twitter-adjacent platforms even if we choose to remain on Twitter. Ultimately, there is no perfect social media platform.