Elon Musk has been obsessed with the idea of X since the 90s, when like a second ever startup that he sold to PayPal was called X.com. Most people imagine it's being something like WeChat, you know, in China,. But he hasn't really laid out what that means. What does the like, there's no explanation from him. He just keeps saying this phrase over and over and over again until it's like singed into our frontal cortex.
Twitter rose to prominence as a global public square that helped enable the Arab Spring, but Elon Musk has changed all that. The platform is complying with governments more, and a murky algorithm and blue check jungle makes it feel less relevant and less reliable than ever before.
Nayeema and Kara break down how the fruit has fallen and where it may eventually land (Yahoo Mail, anyone?) with Zoë Schiffer, managing editor of Platformer, and Ryan Mac, The New York Times’s tech and accountability reporter, who was among those banned by Musk back in December.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram — yes, Instagram, it’s better than Yahoo Mail — we’re @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices