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Quit Clown

A Twitter data scientist who was set to resign reportedly told CEO Elon Musk what a lot of users are thinking these days: "I hope you’ll declare bankruptcy and let someone else run the company."

That anecdote and other eye-opening revelations are at the center of the just-released book "Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter," by New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, who take readers inside how Musk has transformed the social network, now called X, into a shambolic mess of bots and extremist hate accounts.

The departing employee was initially pleased that Musk had taken over the company, as flagged by Rolling Stone, but grew increasingly alarmed, especially after Musk shared a deranged and incorrect conspiracy theory about Nancy Pelosi's husband after a home invader attacked him with a hammer.

"It’s only really like the tenth percentile of the adult population who’d be gullible enough to fall for this," the data scientist told Musk during a face-to-face meeting.

"Fuck you!" Musk shouted back. Fail Whale

There are even more bonkers revelations in the book, but you don't really need to read all these anecdotes to get a sense that X-formerly-Twitter is adrift and that Musk is a terrible manager.

If you've spent any length of time on the site, you will be inundated with sex or porn bots and dubious accounts with paid blue checks peddling conspiracy theories, with Musk as chief pusher of fake news on the app.

Not to mention arcane tech glitches, like last year when the website became unusable due to "rate limit exceeded" messages.

And because of Musk's mismanagement and his mercurial presence on the app, advertisers and users have left in droves — leading Musk to sue advertisers over this supposed mass boycott.

Here's a thought: perhaps Musk should have listened to that data scientist and left the website in more competent hands.

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[-] grendahlgrendahlgen@hexbear.net 18 points 1 month ago

started-blasting "So anyway, I started blastin' Elon Musk directly to his face."

[-] footfaults@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

From the book, about the defamation suit and trial that Musk had, about the kids stuck in that cavern in Thailand

This was Musk’s defense. The plaintiff was simply a “creepy, old white guy expat living in Thailand,” Musk said, and he did not mean that Unsworth was literally a pedophile. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, a smooth talker who completed a fellowship at the CIA before pivoting to become a high-profile attorney to the stars, built upon this strategy.

[-] AmericaDeserved711@hexbear.net 13 points 1 month ago

the just-released book "Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter,"

very disappointed that the cover of the book is not the twitter bird logo with two little 𝕏s for eyes

[-] buckykat@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago

I hope musk destroys twitter so completely that the website goes offline forever and all the twitter clones give up out of shame.

[-] christian@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

I gotta admit "Character Limit" is a pretty clever title for the subject at hand.

[-] QuillcrestFalconer@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

"It’s only really like the tenth percentile of the adult population who’d be gullible enough to fall for this," the data scientist told Musk during a face-to-face meeting.

"Fuck you!" Musk shouted back.

This is so funny

[-] Homer_Simpson@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

Which conspiracy theory about Pelosi's husband?

[-] miz@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

probably that the DePape assault stemmed from a gay encounter

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
55 points (100.0% liked)

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