"I don't have a Facebook page. I don't use my Twitter account. I'm familiar with both, but I don't use them." In July 2010, in an article in the Sunday Observer, an Elon Musk very different from the current one was presented as a kind of dreamer who, up to that point, had managed to turn almost all of his plans into reality, including building his own rocket. His Tesla was described as an exotic luxury sports car in the Space-X parking lot, and the businessman was painted as a source of inspiration for the playboy scientist character Tony Stark, from Marvel's "Iron Man" franchise.

Musk is still very busy these days, but he has found time to dedicate himself to the noble art of defending Freedom of expression, or his very own conception of it. The guy who wanted to be "more extroverted" in 2010 not only learned to use Twitter but decided to buy it in 2022. Six months and many controversies later, the social network doesn't resemble a rocket at all. It's more like a faulty firecracker with a massive loss of employees, advertisers, and prestige. Press vehicles in the US have already given up on the network.

Among the antics he implemented in the new business is the practice of responding to requests from journalists with a poop emoji. Musk wants to believe that his social network does not submit to public scrutiny. The joke, in real life, doesn't work. A company lawyer was opposed by Minister Flávio Dino, last week, after saying that Twitter would not take down profiles with threats of attacks on schools. The result, as it is now known, was the government threatening to fine, suspend and, in the worst-case scenario, ban social networks that did not cooperate.

"Twitter supports massacres" became trending topics until the list was apparently censored, as shown by the #Hashtag blog. Folha and rivals took time to connect the dots between the case and the involution enacted by Musk on the social network. The exercise of imagining a Twitter deformed since the last Brazilian elections is enough to realize how important it was to establish such a link.

The science fiction entrepreneur, who 13 years ago spoke of saving humanity with trips to Mars, seems to have been replaced by a dystopian version of totalitarian staleness. Scorning the press is just the opening chapter of a well-known script.

MM

"... my pregnancy was discovered by the leaking of the results of a blood test and everything I do is like this... it's even scary to die because people don't even respect that moment and we have seen similar cases..."

When Twitter was Twitter, Marília Mendonça wrote on the network about the privacy dilemma. A year and a half after her death, the problem continues, as shown on the news last week. The family denounced that her autopsy photos had been leaked on the internet and made a public appeal for them not to be shared.

In the childish world of social media, asking for something not to be done is key. On Thursday night (13), Folha's most read news was an article about the time of the accident, in 2021, in which the words "body", "IML" ( Legal Medical Institute) "Marília Mendonça" in the title reflected what was sought on Google at that time (some sites warn of the content's publication date, a measure of transparency that Folha lacks).

A report would cover the soap opera, but the newspaper did not refuse the wave of audience and published a dozen articles since then, with not much news. Sensationalism or the new dynamics of journalism, it doesn't matter. The world is a fifth grade. Musk is not alone.

PPP ( Public-Private Partnership)

Last Sunday (9), Folha wrote in a headline that the support for privatization in the country had jumped and reached 38% of the population. Readers complained about what they saw as the direction of the newspaper, given that the majority, 45%, remain against the adoption of the system.

Something similar happened with Datafolha regarding the approval of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the first hundred days of government. The newspaper preferred to highlight the disapproval, similar to that obtained by Jair Bolsonaro.

It is undeniable that Folha has turned the topic of privatization into a priority. It is also a fact that the mood on the subject has changed in public opinion (they were 26% in favor and 66% against in September). The report ventures an explanation, that the election heated up the debate and that privatization would have become a Bolsonarist argument against the PT ( Workers' Party).

A more interesting discussion would come from the only parameter in which the private service loses badly in the survey: for 67%, it is more expensive. It's time to listen to those paying the bill, not those who win the competition.

_{Translated by Cassy Dias}