Most of the world’s biggest advertisers have stopped buying ads on Elon Musk’s X, exclusive new data shows::Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have recently stated that most of the company’s top-spending advertisers from last year have returned.

  • dutchkimble@lemy.lol
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    1 year ago

    Just hypothetically, jokes and feelings aside for discussion sake, if we assume Elon had a plan after taking over (whether he did it by mistake or whatever) what do you think it could be?

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      To use the platform to support rightwing candidates in fachist/ hostile takeovers of democratic governments.

      • HollandJim@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This would make sense. His affiliations with state governments, which he plays against each other when looking to set up somewhere, would be reinforced if he could control the conversation. Then there’s China, where he’s the one beholden to the government, and he could offer some control to help shape their international image in return for just access to cheap labour and an export market, or to the Saudis where he can always find more funds.

    • snaggen@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Saudi Arabia felt Twitter was a problem, so they paid Elon to take it down in a way it wouldn’t come back.

      • Sarcastik@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Why would they “take it down” when anyone with even a modicum of business knowledge would assume a better replacement would be created and take it’s place. This making the next version of Twitter even harder to control.

        Taking it over and controlling the content on it is/was the smart play, especially if you’re going to fork over the $ to buy it outright.

        Stop trying to justify Elon’s shit business decisions. He can just be a fucking moron that got lucky with a few strategic purchases.

        • Lightor@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I mean, maybe a better replacement does come. But just like reddit, it takes a long time and not everyone will actually leave. Now like reddit, it’s just full of BS and has fragmented the community. If the goal was to tear down a platform where people can organize while not fully killing it (preventing the immediate need for a replacement) then he’s doing a good job.

          Yes he could be just an idiot, but all throughout history evil men have done evil things and used their “ignorance” as an excuse. People calling you stupid is much easier to manage than people calling you evil.

        • Lightor@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I think it’s more than destroy the business, it’s to totally delegitimize the platform and flood it with people who would ruin any legit discourse.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I wonder if they made the same arrangement with him to get him to ruin electric cars - and then were surprised when people kept buying Teslas anyway.

    • lloram239@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      The goal with the X rename was to make a western equivalent of WeChat, that’s a Chinese app for chatting, social media and payment. While X was the name of the payment company Elon had before it got turned into Paypal.

      Crux is, outside of the name change, we have yet to see “X” gain any more features that would bring it closer to WeChat, it’s still just a broken version of Twitter.

      • dutchkimble@lemy.lol
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        1 year ago

        This seems like the most plausible reply I got, but lkke you said, nothing has happened on that front yet

    • peg@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think he was only interested in building a great big echo chamber for his own twisted ideas. Profitability is only a secondary concern.

      • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        interested in building a great big echo chamber for his own twisted ideas.

        Then he should’ve, y’know…built one, instead of buying one that was already built and destroying it.

        Then again I’ve never been on Twitter, so I can just sit back and snack on the popcorn with Michael on this one.