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Elon Musk's ‘troll heaven’ turned Twitter into advertiser hell

By Dave Lee

12 Apr 2023 · 3 min read

Editor's Note

Twitter’s owner is creating a platform where the loudest and roughest participants set the tone and his dog’s the CEO. That’s a hard sell for potential advertisers, according to Bloomberg's Dave Lee.

More than 3 million listeners tuned in for Elon Musk’s interview with the BBC’s James Clayton on Wednesday morning UK time. They heard the Twitter owner dodge and deflect questions on safety, claim the company’s chief executive officer was now his dog, and make frequent racist, pornographic allusions about the broadcaster’s name. So far, so Elon. 

But also on the agenda was an assurance that Twitter’s advertisers were “returning” and, as a result, the company was “roughly” at breakeven. “We could be cashflow positive this quarter if things keep going well,” Musk predicted. Since Twitter is a private company, we have to take Musk’s word for it. 

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