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Elon Musk's X playing catch up with other platforms. · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey, everybody, welcome back to the.
• 0:01
  Elon Musk Podcast. This is a show where we discuss.
• 0:05
  The critical crossroads? That shape?
• 0:06
  SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink.
• 0:10
  And I'm your host Will Walden. One more thing before we start
• 0:14
  Google Podcasts is being discontinued by Google.
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  So if you want to continue getting episodes of the Elon
• 0:21
  Musk podcast, please check us out over at YouTube Music.
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  find our podcast through Google Roducts.
• 0:32
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  A off of Android and I want to let you know where to continue
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  finding the show. Over at YouTube Music Search for
• 0:44
  Elon Musk podcast. Thank you so much.
• 0:46
  Elon Musk's X, which is formerly Twitter as we all know, is kind
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  of reverting right now to its foundational elements.
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  According to observations from insiders at Twitter.
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  A project manager from Twitter shows that the efforts to
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  transform X into a significantly different platform have not
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  really materialized yet. It was a Gaber Excel, and it
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  looks like they're sticking with the fundamentals for now.
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  Now, remember when Twitter was just Twitter?
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  It was just a social media app. You posted it on your wall,
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  posted some photos, posted some news with some hashtags, maybe a
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  video, maybe a vertical video if you're feeling saucy.
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  And then other people commented on it, shared it, liked it,
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  things like that. And it seems like this is still
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  the case. It's mainly used as a social
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  media site where you share news, photos, videos.
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  And it also seems like X is playing catch up to a lot of
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  other social media apps, mainly Facebook.
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  Facebook has all the things that Twitter X wants to become except
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  for, except for the banking aspect of it.
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  They do have like a Facebook feature where you can send money
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  back and forth and tip, but they don't have like a bank you can't
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  have. It's not a true sense of the
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  says the word bank, which Elon Musk's want.
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  Elon Musk wants to integrate into Twitter X, so that's where
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  Elon is right now. They're kind of stuck in this
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  holding pattern, catching up with everybody else 1st and then
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  possibly passing them. But one of the other things that
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  they they missed out on is the blue verification checkmarks.
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  Some people that were very relevant and you know,
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  controversial figures or famous people or people with status had
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  blue verification checkmarks just by default because they
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  were influential and people with substantial verified following
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  were very prominent on the platform.
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  So Elon Musk recently reattached high profile users to their
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  checkmarks. This comes after considerable
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  staff reductions as well, including trust and safety team
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  back in 2022. So back then they took away
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  checkmarks. They took away the trust and
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  safety team. They got rid of everybody.
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  They fired hundreds of people from Twitter.
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  Total reorg of the place. Now to enforce or to enhance.
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  Sorry, Platform Safety X is now reportedly establishing a new
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  Content Moderation center in Texas.
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  It has appointed 2 senior executives to lead moderation
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  efforts. Now it looks like possibly X is
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  going to move operations to Texas.
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  This is a shift towards advertiser confidence
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  restoration, which waned a lot after the rise in hate speech on
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  X slash Twitter after Elon took over.
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  Now there's a thing called metaphors.
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  David Camp is part of this, and he sees that these developments
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  as efforts to win back advertisers who departed due to
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  the platform's content management issues.
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  And Musk's initial disregard for conventional business practices
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  aimed at AD revenue stability is seen as contributing to the
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  platform's challenges. Right now, a lot of the
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  advertisers left. I think it was 70.
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  Some odd percent of the high profile advertisers just shut
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  down their accounts, left town, and didn't advertise on X once
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  Elon took over. Now, despite these changes,
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  Musk's erratic communications and controversial statements
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  have continued to impact XS reputation as a reliable
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  advertising partner, according to Camp.
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  Two, it complicates efforts to stabilize the platform's revenue
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  streams. And if somebody's head of a
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  company and they're making controversial statements, it's
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  difficult for advertisers to get behind that platform because
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  they never know what the CEO is going to say.
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  Musk has a wild management style, and public statements
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  have been contentious, and they're often undermining
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  efforts to rehabilitate the platform's image right now.
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  And this has led to a persistent loss of ad revenue, millions and
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  millions and millions of dollars, and challenges in
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  attracting and also retaining the advertisers that they have
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  now, the user base. Some are very loyal oil, but
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  reports indicate a significant decline in X's global user base
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  since Musk took over. Musk himself has acknowledged A
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  substantial drop in advertising revenue under his leadership as
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  well stated that on numerous occasions.
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  And the effectiveness of reinstating traditional
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  verification methods and enhancing content moderation as
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  strategies to regain advertiser trust remains uncertain.
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  We don't know what's going to happen.
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  Elon doesn't know what's going to happen, but maybe there's
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  been meetings behind closed doors of what the advertisers
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  want. Yakarino may have been talking
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  to advertisers, I'm sure she has, about what the advertisers
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  want and how they want to protect themselves from Elon and
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  his rebel ways. Now the platform's reliance on
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  user habituation rather than new feature implementations points
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  to challenges in innovation and user engagement.
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  I mean, what have we really gotten so far since Elon took
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  over, We had to pay for check marks.
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  And you? We have Grok of course, but
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  there's other AI chat bots out there that's already been
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  already been done. Abd if you will.
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  We had higher bitrate video, 4K video, streaming video, which
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  they were working on before. Facebook already has it, YouTube
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  already has it all their social media networks already have this
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  and they already have everything.
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  So there's not much more than Elon has added to this in the
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  time that he's had Twitter. It's been a few years now and he
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  was boasting of an everything app, banking book, an Uber, all
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  the things that you could do, order a pizza, whatever,
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  whatever it is. He wanted this to be the
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  everything app, but it seems like things have just caught up
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  to regular social media sites. Actually, they haven't even
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  caught up yet. Elon integrated monetization
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  with Twitter with X when you live stream or when you post
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  videos was so that was a that was a pretty decent deal.
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  Hasn't really attracted many high profile users to the
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  platform for that yet. But you know, you never know
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  what's going to happen in the next six months with this
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  platform. So we've done some tests on on
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  the platform and we do get some interactions on X with our
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  videos, but nothing like nothing like on our YouTube channel.
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  You can check out our YouTube channel at Space News Pod and
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  also at the Elon Musk Podcast. Now, these comparisons aren't
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  just between social media sites here.
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  That's around Musk and his other ventures too, like the cyber
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  truck. Criticisms of the cyber truck's
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  design and functionality mirror concern concerns about Musk's
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  leadership and its impact on X2. There are a lot of things wrong
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  with the cyber truck when it launched, a lot of things that
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  were promised, never delivered, sort of like full self driving
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  promised, never delivered. It's not fully complete.
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  It's still at a a very, it's in a broad test stages.
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  But when Elon said something like, yeah, we'll have full self
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  driving in two years, that was 10 years ago.
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  So yeah, things that Elon says, he's very optimistic about those
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  things. And there are financial
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  pressures right now on X as well.
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  You know, problematic launches. Tesla stock is actually going
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  down because of the things that Elon says.
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  Right now, challenges are exacerbated by Musk's personal
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  brand, which is increasingly seen as detrimental to business
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  interests on X and at Tesla. And Musk's approach to platform
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  management, particularly his handling of verification changes
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  and content moderation, has sparked controversy among the
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  users. Some high profile individuals
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  have publicly disavowed unsolicited verification badges,
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  emphasizing his disagreement with Musk's policies.
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  Now, the issue of unsolicited verification badges.
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  If you don't ask for one, if you don't buy one and you get one,
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  what? How do you How do you get that?
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  It's up in the air. Nobody really knows.
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  But it's raised questions about Musk's intentions and the
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  criteria for receiving a blue check mark.
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  We played for our check mark because it gives us verification
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  that we're an actual person. The backlash from users who
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  received verification without consent shows that X has ongoing
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  struggles with user trust and engagement.
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  It shows that they don't have a clear path forward and that
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  management doesn't have a clear road map of the exactly what
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  they want to do with certain features.
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  Now, efforts to clarify the verification process and the
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  criteria for premium features have done little to alleviate
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  user concerns, though the confusion surrounding these
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  policies shows that there are challenges in strategies from
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  Elon Musk and the leadership there at X Now Musks latest
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  decision to verify accounts based on subscriber count or
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  premium service subscription has been met with mixed reactions.
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  This approach to verification has been criticized for
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  undermining the original purpose of the blue check mark and also
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  alienating some users. I think Elon doesn't care about
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  alienating users though. I mean, look at some of his
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  posts. He alienates probably half of
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  the platform every time he posts.
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  And legal challenges with Musk includes defamation lawsuits
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  stemming from his social media activity.
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  And this is personal and professional.
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  It's risky, and it could damage X.
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  These issues show that Musk's personal persona and his
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  business ventures sometimes shouldn't intertwine.
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  He likes freedom of speech, though, and he wants X to be the
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  platform of free speech. Now, the case brought against
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  Musk by Ben Brody, which stems from Musk's unfounded
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  allegations on X, shows that legal and reputational hazards
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  of Musk's impulsive social media behavior could be a detriment to
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  the platform. It's part of a broader pattern,
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  controversial actions by Musk that have legal and financial
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  implications. Now, Musk also asserts during a
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  deposition that X is the most accurate, timely and truthful
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  place on the Internet. I don't know if I agree with
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  that. I don't know.
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  Have you seen? I've seen a lot of bots, seen a
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  lot of bots. Those bots are not truthful.
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  There are a lot of people saying a lot of things that are not
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  factually correct. So the way he says it, most
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  accurate, timely and truthful place on the Internet.
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  If the data doesn't back it up, it's not truth.
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  That's all there is to it. I've seen a lot of untruthful
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  people or bots. I'm not sure what they are on
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  Twitter, and I'm not. I'm not here to bash X or
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  Twitter or Elon at all. I'm just telling you what I
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  know. And you know, I'm here to report
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  the I'm here to report for you. That's it.
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  So the dissonance between Musk's statements in a platform's
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  reality shows that X is under a challenge right now.
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  What are the values of X? What are the practices of X?
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  Something may change, and that's OK You're supposed to move fast
• 10:39
  in tech, move Fast forward, right?
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  Fail forward as they say. So I think Elon's doing good
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  work. I just wish there was a road map
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  that we could all follow to see when things are going to be
• 10:49
  enhanced and what new things are going to be added.
• 10:52
  Hey. Thank you so much for listening
• 10:53
  today. I really do appreciate your
• 10:55
  support. If you could take a second and
• 10:57
  hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
• 10:59
  platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
• 11:02
  appreciate it. It helps out the show
• 11:04
  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
• 11:06
  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
• 11:10
  caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
• 11:12
  support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero and
• 11:17
  please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you
• 11:20
  tomorrow.