The Big Tech Show
00:02:18 · Adrian Weckler, Tabitha Monaghan
[00:02:18] S1: Definitely, there will be somebody... Some people who will pay. Very few of the journalists that I spoke to about it so far, and this has only been used for the last day or two, will, but that is from a relative point of privilege. I've been a journalist for twenty years. I have my contacts. I have a following on Twitter. I have all of those things. I can't imagine for a young journalist, for somebody starting out, if you're a young singer, if you're a county counselor for example and you're trying to establish your your your credibility online and you might view this somehow as a way of doing that, you might pay $8 a month for, you know, as what's perceived to be heightened status. Now, I would take a slightly different approach to it in the sense that I would see it as lessening the authenticity of the whole platform, and not just because I won't pay for it. It doesn't... Twitter doesn't care what I do or don't do. But think about it this way. Twitter's core importance is really just one thing, and that is when the big news moment occurs, the really big one. Yeah. To be able to tell in minutes or seconds that whoever is tweeting about it or tweeting a news story or tweeting of you is actually them and is verified. Now, it's not utterly essential. You know, there are lots of people who are totally credible who don't have blue check marks [00:03:42] S3: to just take [00:03:44] S1: that small element away, and you're probably taking a tiny bit of Twitter's core relevance away, in my opinion.
00:03:44 · Adrian Weckler, Tabitha Monaghan
[00:03:44] S1: that small element away, and you're probably taking a tiny bit of Twitter's core relevance away, in my opinion. [00:03:52] S3: Well, I would look as well is that, okay, maybe those people who mightn't... Who I mightn't think are as important but still have those blue ticks. If those blue ticks stay, it's like it's like, okay. Well, I actually pay... I'm paying for this privilege. It's like, I know how you're spending your money, and I don't think it's it's a bit awkward.
00:04:10 · Adrian Weckler
[00:04:10] S1: It's kinda like having a fake degree on your wall, isn't it? It's kinda like how you like going into a sort of a, you know, one of those... What do they call those doctors? Those wannabe doctors who give you herbs and things like that. And you see all the certificates from, you know, the medical school of California, etcetera. I... No. But on a serious note, there is a potential positive spin to this to be fair to Twitter. So you could argue that by introducing a system where you can pay for a verified check mark, that might knock out an awful lot of bots because it's not really feasible for bots to keep buying, blue check marks and credit card details. So Musk is probably right in that sense. You could also argue that the system is a little bit elitist. I mean, I would say that it's an authenticity thing and that it actually serves Twitter itself more than the people who have the blue check marks because it's in Twitter's interest to be able to, you know, showcase credible, authentic newsmakers, not me, but like a lot of senior institutions for example are actually on Twitter and you go there to see what their take or what their latest line is on something, that benefits Twitter, the company, Elon Musk, more than it benefits the institution itself. But there is a case to be made that you are introducing a wider authenticity, and that is something that Twitter does need, to be fair.
00:05:48 · Tabitha Monaghan, Adrian Weckler
[00:05:48] S3: And it hasn't been just about the blue ticks this week. It has been a busy week for Elon Musk and Twitter HQ. He's he's made some sweeping changes, especially with the board. [00:05:59] S1: Well, he fired the board. He made himself, the permanent CEO. So not permanent CEO. The standing CEO, which he says will be temporary. But it's not just that. It was kind of embarrassing for Elon Musk because he cut off most of the trust and safety team from being able to access their controls within the company, which was reported as a transition thing. But he did it at the... As the same time as tweeting out himself a conspiracy theory, a a homophobic conspiracy theory about the husband of The US congressional speaker Nancy Pelosi who had been attacked, Paul Pelosi who had been attacked in his home, and he tweeted out a homophobic conspiracy theory about it. He then deleted it afterwards. That tweet was completely discredited by local police. So, I mean, if you're working in Twitter, if you're one of the 500 people working in the twit... In the... Twitter's Irish office, what are you thinking? You know, Musk is cutting off access to most of the trust and safety staff. He's saying he's gonna let go a quarter of all of Twitter's stuff, and then he tweets out a conspiracy theory himself.
00:07:05 · Tabitha Monaghan
[00:07:05] S3: It's a it's a wild move. Alright. But, also, it speaks to... Especially his tweet about Nancy Pelosi's husband, it speaks to that concern that many people have had about Musk taking over Twitter, about what he's going to do to free speech and what he's going to allow or not allow on Twitter. You know, there's talk now about, Donald Trump possibly getting his account back. I mean, it does... It it it doesn't, say a lot for what could happen down the line if Musk is doing that himself.
00:07:31 · Adrian Weckler, Tabitha Monaghan
[00:07:31] S1: Yeah. I I wouldn't be... I would be were... A little worried about Trump getting back on if he treats it the same way as he did before. I'd be a little bit more worried about Musk trading influence on Twitter for things like access to car markets. So you're looking at, say, giant markets like India, for example, over a billion consumers trying to get into that market with Tesla. The Indian government is extremely controlling and... It's a it's a democratic elected government, but it's... Acts like an authoritarian one when it comes to online social platforms. Not hard to see a situation where the Indian government says, if you want access to this market for Teslas, you will now not allow x, y, and zed to, you know, tweet about human rights. On the other hand, the other extreme, you can also see a situation where Musk gives... You know, loosens the reins on all sorts of libertarian kind of conspiracy conspiracy theorist, you know, sources and... Without the the proper content moderation facilities. Although it is fair to note that he has already enraged part of the hard right community by saying that Twitter will continue to have content moderation policies and that he has consulted with a number of civil rights leaders on it. Already, the mob that had been whipped up and who were delighted that Musk was taking over thinking that this was gonna be their new dawn. Already, they're starting to turn on him. [00:09:07] S3: Okay. So, really, maybe we don't have as much to worry about in that sense.