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From Wondery, Flipping the Bird, Elon

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vs. Twitter is a new podcast that unravels

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the fascinating story of Elon Musk's unexpected

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bid to buy Twitter and all of the drama that

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has happened since then. As one of

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the richest men on earth and a self-described business

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maverick, Elon epitomizes the Silicon

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Valley ethos of move fast and break things.

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And once Elon became Twitter's new CEO, you

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were either with him or against him. Those

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still employed at Twitter soon saw the company and its culture

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morphed into something they didn't recognize. He laid

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off 75% of the Twitter workforce, reinstated

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exceedingly problematic and dangerous users and

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even encouraged his staff to sleep in the office. Ex-employees,

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Elon's critics and fellow CEOs were quick to denounce

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him as an in-over-his-head rich guy. But

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Twitter's doors are still open today. Is Elon

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all talk or are his unruly methods actually

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the work of a genius? However you feel about

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his approach, Elon's influence is not only ushering

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in a new era of Twitter but shaping the future of

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free speech on the internet as we know it. I'm

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about to play a clip from Flipping the Bird, Elon

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vs. Twitter. While you're listening, follow Flipping

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the Bird wherever you get your podcasts. Hey Prime

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members, you can listen to episodes ad-free on Amazon

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Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.

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Twitter is under new ownership.

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Elon Musk has arrived at Twitter's San Francisco

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offices. And he's got big ideas

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about how his platform should

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be. I believe in the free flow of ideas.

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Is someone you don't like allowed

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to say something you don't like? That

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is a sign of a healthy, functioning

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free speech situation. Except

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maybe for one Twitter employee

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who does just that. I

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opened up my phone, opened up Twitter. One

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of the first tweets

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I saw when I opened the app was... From his

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new boss. I'd like to apologize

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for Twitter being super slow in many countries.

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I was like, this doesn't make sense. So

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he responds in the free flow of ideas.

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tagging Elon for a fact. I

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spent six years working on Twitter for Android

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and can say this is wrong. Turns out there

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are limits to what Elon will tolerate

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on his platform. He's

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fired.

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You know, your heart kind of sinks a little bit. Like,

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this is the end of eight years. This is how

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this ride's gonna end. From

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Wondery, the makers of We Crashed and

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In God We Lust, comes a new

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series, Flipping the Bird, Elon

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vs Twitter. A story about

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what happens when the richest man on the

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planet decides to acquire

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a powerful social media company, in the name of free

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speech. It

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started off promising, and

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then he just kind

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of, you know, keeps going on and

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on. But does he have what it

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takes? I can't believe I have to transition

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from aliens away from this conversation back

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to Twitter. I'm not

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saying it's aliens, but... Yes, sir.

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I'm supposed to believe this man is a genius. Or

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is this all just about Elon? He's

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essentially mad that his tweets

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aren't performing as well as

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he would have expected them to. He'll like

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tweet a thing and then everyone's like, we gotta

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work on that now, because he tweeted it. But

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really just felt like, okay, this really is just a platform

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being ruled by a dictator who does

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things on his own land.

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And what will be left of Twitter by

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the time he's done? Basically my entire

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team was gone. By the end of it, infrastructure

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was just completely gutted. They literally auctioned

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off the contents of the Market Street, San

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Francisco, Twitter headquarters.

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It just felt like everything

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was kind of descending into chaos.

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I'm David Brown, the host of Business Wars.

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Follow Flipping the Bird, Elon vs

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Twitter, on Amazon Music or wherever

3:52

you get your podcasts. You can start

3:54

listening to Flipping the Bird early and ad-free

3:57

by subscribing to Wondery Plus and Apple

3:59

Podcasts.

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or the Wundery Aft. I must confess

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I've made a mess of what should be a small

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success but I'd like rats at

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least I've tried my very best I guess Put

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me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint

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you Tell me I'm exceptional,

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I promise to exploit you

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Make some noise for the richest man in the

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world It sounds like someone's gonna hit me fire in the audience