Spotlight — A Bigger Picture on Elon & Twitter

If Elon Musk owns Twitter, what are the risks and what are the
opportunities? In order for Twitter to support democracy
— and Musk’s goal of becoming a multi-planetary civilization
— we need a radical redesign that goes beyond free
speech. 


Note: this conversation was recorded on April 21, 2022. That
was 3 days prior to the official purchase announcement, which
revealed that Elon Musk will buy Twitter for $44
billion. 


Clarification: In the episode, we talk about the creation of
The Daily Show, featuring Jon Stewart. To be clear, The Daily
Show was created by writer and producer Madeleine Smithberg and
comedian and media personality Lizz Winstead — for comedian and
host Craig Kilborn. Jon Stewart took over in 1999, which is when
he had the conversation with executives that we reference in the
episode, where he didn't want to see the viewership numbers.


RECOMMENDED MEDIA 


Examining algorithmic amplification of political content on
Twitter


Polarization of Twitter (Knight Foundation)


Pew Research on the political extremes drowning out centrist
voices on Twitter


Chronological feed vs algorithm (Computational Journalism
Lab)

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES


A Conversation with Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen:
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/42-a-conversation-with-facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen


Here’s Our Plan And We Don’t Know:
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/46-heres-our-plan-and-we-dont-know


A Problem Well-Stated Is Half-Solved:
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/a-problem-well-stated-is-half-solved


Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for
Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_