Leah Feiger: I am unable to wait to listen to all about it. However let’s begin with Elon Musk. If I needed to hint the top of Twitter, it might clearly begin with him. David, why did Musk purchase Twitter? Take us again to that point.
David Gilbert: I’ve a sense he is been serious about shopping for Twitter for some time. He is been one of many fundamental characters on Twitter for years and has at all times been very vocal about his opinions and the content material he is posted there. However since 2020, when Donald Trump was kicked off the platform and there was a significant shutdown of content material associated to COVID-19 and vaccines, he turned more and more resentful of what he noticed as extreme censorship the place individuals of a sure perspective had been silenced on the platform. In fact, it was one thing that not solely Musk, however many conservatives had, that they’re being silenced. It had been simmering for some time, the thought that he was going to purchase it. A lot of his followers, and he has plenty of followers, urged him to say that he can purchase it, take it over and switch it into his utopian social media platform. In early 2022, he did it. He determined to bid $44 billion. In a short time he determined to show round and say, “No, I do not actually need to try this.”
[Archival audio clip]: You then modified your thoughts once more and determined to purchase. you probably did it –
Elon Musk [Archival audio clip]: Properly, as I needed to.
[Archival audio clip]: is appropriate. Did you do it since you thought the courtroom would pressure you?
Elon Musk [Archival audio clip]: sure.
[Archival audio clip]: is appropriate.
Elon Musk [Archival audio clip]: Sure, that is the explanation.
Leah Feiger: I at all times overlook that. I at all times overlook this and I like it a lot.
David Gilbert: He would not actually remind individuals about it an excessive amount of. Lastly it handed, Musk took over and made adjustments in a short time. I am unsure at that time, McKenna, do you suppose he actually had a imaginative and prescient in his head of what his model of Twitter would appear to be?
Makenna Kelly: No, I do not suppose it was extra imaginative and prescient than revenge.
David Gilbert: sure
Makenna Kelly: In case you look at the moment, it is across the identical time that regulators, even within the information, are extra skeptical of what Elon Musk is doing. He isn’t some messiah character who’s going to move us to some good progressive world the place all of us drive autonomous autos and have photo voltaic panels on our homes. Folks started to deal with him way more critically. Twitter is an area the place you’ve gotten newsmakers, tastemakers, essential individuals on this platform who use it day-after-day, and that is the place you possibly can actually have plenty of conversations. I really feel like Elon Musk, even when it wasn’t in his head, I believe he a minimum of subconsciously knew that having some energy over that platform can be good for him and his model.