Elon Musk’s Event With Ron DeSantis Exposes Twitter’s Weaknesses

What was supposed to be a crowning moment for Mr. Musk’s Twitter turned into a series of technical glitches.

Instead, the event began with more than 20 minutes of technical glitches, hot mic moments and drowned-out and half-said conversations before the livestream abruptly cut out. Minutes later, the livestream was restarted as hundreds of thousands of listeners tried to tune in. Mr. DeSantis had not said a word at that point.

The technical problems on Wednesday showed how Twitter is operating far from seamlessly, turning what was supposed to be a crowning event for Mr. Musk into something of an embarrassment.

The event had been an opportunity for Mr. Musk, an unpredictable executive with interests in many fields, to promote multiple agendas. Those included a political coming-out for the billionaire, who has flirted with right-wing accounts and politics for years on Twitter but has never embraced a presidential candidate the way he has Mr. DeSantis. And it was supposed to be a way for Mr. Musk to advance his business interests by highlighting Twitter, which he is trying to turn around.

“He’s being clear that he will use his media platform to advance his own political interests in a way that is unprecedented in its overtness,” said Jason Goldman, a former vice president of product at Twitter.

Category: Technology

Source: NYTimes Technology