If Elon Musk sounds like a name Ian Fleming could have invented, there’s more than a hint of a Bond villain in the South African-born American billionaire. It’s not just his insane wealth, which hovers around $15 trillion, but his SpaceX business, which aims to send rockets into space and colonize Mars (a la Hugo Drax and Moonraker), and his hyperactive ego.
All of these aspects of Musk are brought to light in Kate Conger and Ryan Mack’s book Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter. The portraits painted by these two New York Times technology reporters are so uninspiring that a more appropriate title might be “Character Assassination.” Or it would be if it weren’t for the fact that Musk himself provides most of the ammunition that is ejected on this damn account.
As the subtitle suggests, the book focuses on Musk’s controversial acquisition of social media platform Twitter (now renamed to “A social media company”. It seemed an unlikely development for a man who became the world’s richest man by building extraterrestrial rockets and electric cars, but Musk started out as an internet entrepreneur and made his first fortune with an online city guide business. and then became even more filthy rich. Selling his shares on PayPal.
He was also a Twitter addict and was one of those people who couldn’t go a day, or even an hour, without posting his own opinion or reposting someone else’s. In previous eras, the Gilded Class liked to show off their wealth and influence by owning newspapers. But in 1998, Musk saw the writing on the screen.
“I think the Internet is the greatest and ultimate medium,” he declared at the time.
Twitter wasn’t the biggest and final of anything outside of the culture wars, but by the end of the last decade, it had established itself as a vital resource for tens of millions of people around the world, and the company rivaled Facebook. I aimed to do that. Its chief executive is Jack Dorsey, a curious hippie billionaire intrigued by what Nomic has to say and trying to navigate his way to the platform between the jagged rocks of libertarian principles and liberal interests. And so. This strategy was not entirely successful, and board divisions ultimately prompted his departure.
His successor, Parag Agrawal, was an ardent technocrat who seemed to believe that all solutions to the harmful social conflicts associated with platforms were found in better coding. But when Musk bought the company for $44 billion nearly two years ago, he was shown the door right away and never had a chance to really make his mark. Or rather, he was legally, legally, legally, legally forced to buy it, despite his efforts, even though he made a high offer out of that amount. No, I couldn’t withdraw it. The lawsuit revealing Musk’s obligations also revealed a cache of text messages the billionaire sent in connection with the acquisition. They exhibit a hasty and hasty personality characteristic of intimidation, hyperbole, melancholy and bouts of megalomania.
According to the authors, he became obsessed with being the most followed poster on his platform.
He complained long and hard that he had effectively forced Twitter to sell without due process and that he had not had a chance to assess the company’s true value afterwards. They also didn’t have a coherent plan for where to move their business. He disliked Twitter’s advertising model and sought to alienate the companies that provided most of Twitter’s revenue, but his alternative idea of raising money through a verification system was poorly conceived and counterproductive.
As profits declined, the workforce was further deprived, resulting in a loss of expertise and, in turn, hampering business reform efforts. Six months after his purchase, he tweeted: “How do you make a little money on social media? Start with the big one.”
The just cause he champions is freedom of speech, a noble concept that tends to divide when affected by complex realities.
The authors may be too inclined to think that any questioning of liberal assholes is tantamount to hate speech, but if Twitter has always had that nasty element, under the Musk regime, even on a small scale, There is little doubt that even the largest companies have become larger cesspools.
With very few exceptions, he continues to tweet. Or, what should we call it now? Believing that disgruntled members of the old regime had thrown in a digital spanner, they launched a frenzied investigation.
Although there is growing evidence to suggest that social media is harmful to mental health, there is nothing in this book that would lead readers to believe otherwise.
At one point, when his tweets supporting one team in the Super Bowl received less attention than President Biden supporting the same team, he walked away from the event and wondered what kind of impact this presidential scene-stealing had had. He flew to San Francisco to oversee efforts to investigate. allowed to happen.
Although there is growing evidence to suggest that social media is harmful to mental health, there is nothing in this book that would lead readers to believe otherwise. The kind of polarized, closed-minded thinking that algorithms on platforms like Twitter/X are trying to propagate is in some ways embodied by Mr. Musk, who has led America and the world to what he calls He tells himself that he is participating in a crusade to save him from “crisis.” The Awakened Mind Virus.”
Although not without problematic aspects on the part of some of the more self-righteous social justice movements, Mr. Musk has gotten into bed with Donald Trump, both citing popular support but primarily for self-enrichment. The focus is on people’s satisfaction. Beyond vanity.
By the time you finish reading this book, you can’t help but feel that Mars might be the perfect place for this strange and obscenely wealthy character.
Character Limit: How Elon Musk Broke Twitter by Kate Conger and Ryan Mack is published by Cornerstone (£25). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Shipping charges may apply