The Register Kettle

What is the future of Twitter / X after Musk's profane advertiser smackdown?

Episode Summary

By now Elon Musk should be used to high-risk maneuvers. If it's not SpaceX landing reusable rockets or docking manned capsules in orbit, it's Teslas navigating public roads under AI control. Yet this week he tried one particular gambit we're not sure how he'll recover from: telling his Twitter advertisers to go f**k themselves during an awkward New York Times interview.

Episode Notes

The billionaire tycoon was irate that Apple, IBM, Comcast, and others have pulled their ads from Twitter, aka X, and claimed this boycott could kill the social network.

As journos following these big names in tech, and knowing all too well what it's like navigating the internet's seas with advertising dollars as the wind in our sails, we got together to analyze Musk's situation and outlook.

On today's 16-minute show we have, clockwise from top left in the thumbnail, vultures Thomas Claburn, Brandon Vigliarolo, Chris Williams, and host Iain Thomson.