logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2022
14m 38s

Can Black Twitter survive Elon Musk?

NPR
About this episode
A surge in anti-Semitic and racist tweets, an incoherent rollout of a paid verification service, and thousands of layoffs. Then a scramble to rehire some employees. This is only a couple of weeks into Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter.

It's impossible to deny that Musk is a highly successful businessman who made some high-visibility missteps on the way to Tesla and SpaceX. But unlike those two companies, Twitter is not about goods and services. For millions of users, it's about community. And many feel that Musk will end up destroying these virtual communities.

Disgruntled Twitter users have sparked a mini-movement with the hashtag #TwitterMigration, leaving the platform for the social network Mastodon over concerns about increasing hate speech and misinformation.

But others are defiantly staying put - ready to fight back to sustain the influential communities that have made the platform their home.

Host Michel Martin speaks with Meredith Clark, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication studies at Northeastern University, and the author of a forthcoming book on Black Twitter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Yesterday
Bubbling questions about the limits of the AI revolution
OpenAI founder Sam Altman floated the idea of an AI bubble, an MIT report found that 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing and tech stocks took a dip.With the AI sector is expected to become a trillion dollar industry within the next decade, what impact might slowi ... Show More
10m 46s
Aug 23
High stakes diplomacy and canceled Halibut Olympia, insights from the Alaska Summit
Normally, foreign policy summits between world leaders involve painstaking planning and organization days and weeks in advance. The hectic and last minute nature of the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska provided a window into how so mu ... Show More
12m 31s
Aug 22
Famine is declared in Gaza. Will anything change?
The people of Northern Gaza are starving. That’s according to an official declaration by a United Nations-backed group of experts, who comprise the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC. They say that famine has officially reached Gaza city and could soon reach oth ... Show More
7m 45s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2022
Elon Musk Might Break Twitter. Maybe That's a Good Thing.
If Elon Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter comes to fruition, the world’s richest person will own one of its most important communications platforms. Twitter might have a smaller user base than Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat, but it shapes the dominant narratives in key indust ... Show More
1h 5m
Apr 2022
Elon Musk’s vision for Twitter
Today on Post Reports, tech reporter Nitasha Tiku breaks down what’s happening with Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter, what his vision of the platform would look like, and why Twitter is putting up a fight. Read more:  Elon Musk is already facing pushback on multiple fronts on ... Show More
20m 56s
Nov 2022
It’s been a wild ride for Twitter under Elon Musk. What’s next?
It’s been a wild ride these past two weeks with Twitter under the ownership of Elon Musk, including Musk showing up at Twitter headquarters with a sink and laying off half of the company’s global staff. Just about every day there’s a new headline about what’s happening in the com ... Show More
11m 4s
Apr 2022
Twitter’s Elon Musk Problem
Elon Musk’s recent investment in Twitter has turned a high-profile and frequent user of the platform into the company’s largest stakeholder.At first, the involvement of Mr. Musk, the C.E.O. of Tesla, was seen by the social media giant as a chance to gain a powerful ally. Instead, ... Show More
29m 1s
Aug 2022
Coming soon: Elon Musk vs. Twitter
How it Happened: Elon Musk vs. Twitter is a first-of-its-kind newsroom collaboration featuring exclusive reporting on the rise of Elon Musk to become world's richest man, the parallel rise of Twitter as the global public square, and the collision of these two titans this year. Th ... Show More
1m 35s