Elon Musk and Twitter: Is he in over his head?

Twitter might not be the most important social media platform on the market, however it’s actually one of the vital influential, as a result of what occurs on Twitter does not simply keep on Twitter. Which is perhaps why the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is such a fan.

Musk purchased the corporate for an eye-popping $44 billion, although Twitter, which depends on promoting for a lot of its income, has turned a revenue in solely two of the final ten years.

Tech journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher harked again to businessman Victor Kiam promoting Remington electrical shavers: “There was an outdated factor, ‘I favored the shaver so, I purchased the corporate.'”

Since his takeover, Musk has fired, or accepted resignations from, about two-thirds of Twitter’s workers. “He thinks he can reform it,” Swisher stated. “In the event you checked out it as a enterprise, you’d need to say, ‘No, no, steer clear of this.’ Nevertheless it’s type of like shopping for a yacht or a baseball crew for a wealthy particular person. That is attention-grabbing to him.”

Swisher has recognized Musk for over 20 years and has interviewed him extensively. These days although, he hasn’t been such a fan of her protection of him.

Since shopping for Twitter, Musk (a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”) has invited again some customers who had beforehand been banned or in any other case restricted. He is fired workers who’ve tweeted criticisms of him, and he posted (after which deleted) what one commentator referred to as “the most costly tweet ever”: a conspiracy principle about Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Costly as a result of there’s hypothesis that that tweet, and lots of others from Musk, have brought about advertisers to flee Twitter in droves.

“Now he is antagonizing advertisers and calling them ‘woke,'” Swisher informed correspondent Luke Burbank. “Advertisers will promote on Devil, Inc., if it will promote a Fitbit. I imply, actually!”

A documented rise in hate speech since Musk’s takeover got here to a head this previous week after the rapper previously generally known as Kanye West tweeted a photograph of a swastika, prompting Musk to droop his account.

Swisher stated, “Something that is extra moderated – and I am utilizing phrase ‘moderated,’ not ‘censored’ – tends to do higher with customers, with advertisers, with the complete expertise.”

However Musk thinks Twitter’s prior administration unfairly stifled conservative speech. On Friday, when reporter Matt Taibbi tweeted a trove of inside emails purporting to show Twitter’s “liberal bias,” Musk retweeted the thread approvingly.

Alex Stamos, the previous chief safety officer at Fb, says the Russian hacking of Democratic Nationwide Committee emails in 2016 made Twitter cautious of overseas affect campaigns. “Within the days earlier than the 2020 election, Twitter made the choice to not enable folks to put up the New York Put up story about Hunter Biden’s laptop computer till they might strive to determine whether or not or not that was a part of a authorities affect marketing campaign,” he stated. “After which they determined, because it was going to get coated, that they need to enable it to be posted. So, they did make a mistake. However the concept that it affected the election is simply ludicrous.”

For some, Twitter’s suppression of that article grew to become a First Modification difficulty. However Swisher thinks that misses the purpose: “It is gotten sucked up right into a free speech dialog or First Modification dialog, largely by individuals who’ve by no means learn the First Modification. As a result of it is about ‘authorities shall make no regulation.’ That is all it says, people. And so, corporations actually can, they usually actually do.”

And speech on Twitter can have real-world implications. For years, Twitter’s “blue checkmarks” have verified {that a} consumer is who they are saying they’re. However when Musk began promoting the checkmarks with out precise verification, a slew of imposter accounts sprang up, like one posing as Eli Lilly tweeting out “Insulin is free now,” inflicting the pharmaceutical firm’s inventory worth to tumble. The truth is, as a result of safety considerations, CBS Information briefly paused its Twitter use two weeks in the past.

One present Twitter worker who spoke to “Sunday Morning” requested that we not establish him, for worry of reprisal from Musk and his on-line followers. 

“He stated that he wished to experiment with long-form content material, content material longer than only a tweet,” he stated. “That was already launched and was out there on the platform. And he fired the crew that had developed it and launched it.”

Burbank requested, “What’s your employment standing with Twitter as of proper now?” 

“I am nonetheless technically an worker, however I am on a suspended standing till January 4th, when they may put us on severance, if we signal a severance settlement.”

Like many, this un-named, soon-to-be ex-employee believes Musk is attempting to cut back what he owes former Twitter workers, by way of severance and inventory choices. “And to be clear, Elon Musk purchased the corporate. He could make any enterprise resolution he desires to make,” he stated. “It is the character during which we had been let go and doubtlessly even ways in which broke employment regulation. And it is the hostile and virtually merciless method during which we have been let go by way of no communication, no route.” 

In response to a proposed class-action lawsuit introduced by its workers, Twitter has stated in courtroom that allegations it broke U.S. employment regulation are baseless.

Stamos stated of Musk, “He is really a extremely dangerous supervisor, and that is type of stunning to me, how dangerous he’s on the human administration facet of this. The percentages of them having the ability to execute effectively over this subsequent 12 months, I feel, are very lengthy, until he decides to usher in a CEO to calm issues down. And it is clear that is what he will need to do at Twitter if they’ll attempt to stabilize and cease the bleeding of all of this expertise that they want to have the ability to execute.”

“Sunday Morning” reached out to Musk, however didn’t obtain a reply. 

Burbank requested Swisher, “How does he strike you as an individual?”

“Oh, it is determined by what day,” she replied. “I typically consider Silicon Valley as a number of good folks engaged on silly issues, and Elon was engaged on good issues.” 

Issues like Tesla and SpaceX, Musk’s corporations which have arguably revolutionized life on this planet.  

However earlier than all that, in 1998, on “CBS Sunday Morning,” correspondent Rita Braver talked to then-27-year-old Elon Musk, who was working at his first startup, Zip2, a metropolis information on a brand new factor referred to as the web. Musk stated, “There is a stage of freedom on the web that basically does not exist anyplace else. And there is no central controlling entity that will get to resolve, ‘This content material is nice, this content material is dangerous.'”

However now, Musk is that controlling entity, a minimum of on the subject of Twitter – free to average or to permit the unfold of misinformation as he sees match.

One one who understands Twitter’s energy? That nameless Twitter worker, the one who could quickly be downsized by The World’s Richest Man: “Whether or not it is native to nationwide politics, whether or not it is the dialog round essential cultural occasions or cultural points, whether or not folks use Twitter or not, their lives are formed by what occurs on Twitter.” 

     
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Story produced by Anthony Laudato and Robert Marston. Editor: Carol Ross.