Host Brian Stelter breaks down Elon Musk’s erratic stewardship of Twitter, now X, with Zoë Schiffer, managing editor of Platformer and author of the forthcoming book Extremely Hardcore. They discuss Musk’s rightward shift, his war against the “woke mind virus,” and stated mission of restoring free speech to the platform. “I think we’ve seen in the year since that his definition of free speech is very different from ours, and it basically means, his speech and speech that he aligns with,” says Schiffer. 

They also discuss the ramifications of Musk blowing up Twitter’s verification system, and whether it’s responsible to still post on X as misinformation and toxicity flow. “The more that you continue to post on X, the more that you legitimize this platform that in my mind warrants no legitimacy at this point,” says Schiffer. 

“It was really, really hard for me to give up and it feels like a huge loss, but there have just been so many moments over this past year where Elon Musk has promoted ideas and people who I think are very harmful and very dangerous for this world,” she says, adding that “doing what amounts to unpaid labor for that platform is really continuing to support his mission and his campaign.”