WEBVTT - Tech Layoffs and Musk Bans Ye 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.840 I read Lovelow in San Francisco. This is Bloomberg Technology 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.680 coming up. The US labor market looks resilient after a 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.119 strong November jobs report, but things aren't so rosy in 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.640 the tech market with a wave of layoffs. We break 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.360 down what this report means for the FED and Silicon 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.760 Valley at large. Plus Elon Musk says he is releasing 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.960 quote what really happened with the Hunter Biden's story suppression 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.680 by Twitter? Two years after Twitter changed its policies in 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:42.800 the wake of the New York Post report. We have 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.320 the latest and Uber's CEO says the company is ready 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.160 for any economic environment with no plans to cut the workforce, 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.680 as competitors announced layoffs and new names revealed job cuts. First, 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:56.760 of course, we've got to take a look at how 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:02.400 markets ended Friday. Major technology into companies mostly lower after 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.320 what was a pretty hot jobs report. There than has 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:07.679 that one actually pairing most of its losses to close 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.480 down four tenths of one percent, some under performance and 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.920 chip names really interesting out performance in the US listed 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.800 shares of Chinese tech companies. Then as that Golden Dragon 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.800 Index closing up five point four percent, it's highest level 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.399 since September. The story they're really around the idea we 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.880 might see some easing of policy in China that would 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.280 be supportive for the economy. Of course, yields were a 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.240 big story on that hot jobs print, but actually the 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.440 jump we saw on the tenure yield reverse by the 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.160 time we were finished on Friday afternoon. In terms of 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.640 individual names, it was some of the mega caps that 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.440 were hardest hit by that job's report, leading declines on 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.480 the NASA one hundred. But along with the broadest story, 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:49.200 they two pair those those declined the worst performance than 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.559 has that one hundred Z scaler down as much as percent? 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:57.120 Friday Cloud Security Company, It's forecast tepid. How often has 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.400 that been the story throughout this earning season, analysts noticing 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.400 that revenue and billings growth decelerating along with macro headwinds. 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.600 But the story of the day, of course, jobs, jobs 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:09.240 and more jobs. So let's get into all of this 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.480 and recap the data brutal week as well of layoffs 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:16.240 across the technology industry. His Bloomberg's Katie Gray felt, Katie, 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.239 what was your read on the print we got Friday morning? Well, 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.119 at eight thirty am Eastern was a long time ago. 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.200 So let's just quickly go through the numbers. Hit there. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.959 You had two hundred sixty thousand jobs added last month, 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.960 just shattering expectations. The unemployment rates stayed put at three 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.440 point seven per cent, that is extremely low. The big 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.720 thing that stuck out to me that was average hourly 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.040 earnings month over month. Those rose by point six percent. 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.639 That was double the estimates. And that's what really spooked 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.600 markets early, particularly when it comes to wages, because snack 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.120 great news for Federal Reserve just trying it's darnedst to 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.880 cool price pressures without having to break the economy in 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:57.960 the process. With that in mind, I mean, you saw 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.359 a lot of movement early, a big drop the SMP 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:04.280 five hundred in the NASTAC one hundred. Stocks did clawback 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.600 a lot of those losses, but like you pointed out, 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:08.799 you look at the NASTAC one hundred still finished down 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.880 about four tenths of a percent. Because ed, I don't 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.160 need to tell you that higher rates typically aren't good 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:19.520 for the kind of growth tech names that populate that index. Yeah, 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.280 I'm glad you said that, because I sit here in 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.320 this chair and people say to me, this is a 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.880 technology show. Why are you so focused on the Fed? 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.360 It's always about the Fed, right, I guess you know. 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.359 The outlook for rates is unclear at the best of times. 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.040 What do we learn from that market reaction about what 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.960 we might see from the Fed this month and going forward? Well, 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:38.920 and you and I speak the same language. It's all 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.400 about the Fed. And in terms of what the Fed 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:44.320 might do at this month's meeting. I mean, we heard 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.120 from Jerome Peal on Wednesday saying that they could moderate 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.360 the pace of rate hikes this month. It seems like 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.800 that is what markets are sticking with. Because you didn't 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:57.040 really see bets change on a fifty basis point move 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.360 for this month versus seventy five basis points. You did 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.400 see wagers on how high the terminal rate the end 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.480 destination for the Federal Reserve. That did nudge up a 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:08.360 little bit, but that's also in line with what we 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.440 heard from Pal on Wednesday, that that could be higher 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.840 than their previous forecasts, which we got back in September. Alright, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.240 Katy Gray felt happy Friday, get out of there, enjoy 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.480 your weekend, but we will continue the conversation of bringing 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.560 John le chief economist for Decision Intelligence Company morning consult 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.599 for his read on it. John, Welcome to the show 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:33.120 Data hot Print for Jobs Friday. What's your interpretation? Yeah, 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.200 thanks for having me. I mean, I think the headline 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.720 numbers that things didn't sort of move from the tech 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.640 sector into the broader economy. They remain relatively contained. Um, 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.159 But the twelve month trend is pretty clear at this 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.000 point we are seeing a slowing rate of jobs growth, 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:51.320 probably not quite as slow as the FED would like, 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.400 but you know, I think going forward there's some room 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.400 for near term optimism in particularly because these tech layoffs 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.880 have yet to trickle over and affect the broader economy. 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:05.480 I think it's hard to make sense of a lot 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.600 of this, right, The data is incongruous with with with 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.720 the different data points that we're getting every single day, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:16.760 how is it that we're seeing very rapid announcements of layoffs. 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:18.760 So I'm thinking, of course, of the challenge of grade 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.320 data those announcements of layoffs in the tech industry. And 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:24.600 yet if you take a step back and look at 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.039 the broader picture for the US economy, we see a 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.640 resilient labor market. Where is the disconnected? Yeah, I don't 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.880 see a disconnect. I mean we We track the share 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.640 of tech workers who lost pay or income every week, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.200 and we've seen that pretty consistently ticked down over the 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.960 course of November. In any of our high frequency unemployment data, 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.120 we don't see dramatic increases in the tech sector. I 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:52.040 think what's you know the difference is that these folks 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:56.280 who are being laid off are essentially finding jobs very quickly, 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.800 either in the tech sector or in some other sector 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.039 that requires those type of skills. Those skills are really 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.039 in demand. We still have an imbalance in the economy 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.640 between supply and demand um and that that sort of 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.120 limited supply right now is going to allow companies that 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.880 are underperforming for those workers to be reabsorbed very quickly. 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.920 There's an interesting point of personal finance. Like a lot 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.680 of people that watch this show work in the technology industry, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.600 and over the course of the pandemic, they worked at 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.640 companies that retain staff, paid bonuses helped offset some of 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.560 the economic hardship. Do you think it's fair to say 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.680 that those workers from the technology sector that even if 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:39.920 they're being laid off, they have a buffer, that they 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.400 have personal finance cash in the bank that they built 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.880 from the pandemic era. Yeah, that's exactly right. That's what 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.039 all of our research shows that higher income, higher educated 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.240 workers who have been employed over the course of the 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:57.320 pandemic have stashed away enough savings essentially to last at 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:02.320 least three months without working um after losing their job. 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.720 And so I think that's really the security that I 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.240 have when I think about how might these tech layoffs 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.320 affect the broader macro economy. We're not seeing it in 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.800 terms of broader layoffs, and I don't think we'll see 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.080 it in terms of a deterioration in spending or consumer 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.920 credit conditions. Hey, John, I want to go back really 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.000 quick to that challenge of grade data. A d two 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.080 thousand or so job cuts announced by the tech sector 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.840 year to date, but fifty three thousand of them in 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.080 the month of November alone. Do you expect that trend 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.520 to continue through the end of this year and into 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:36.680 the next year or is the worst of it over? 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:39.880 You know, it's hard to say exactly. I think what 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.240 is certainly going to be the case going forward is 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.200 that you're going to hear about more layoffs in general, 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:49.600 because we're entering a period in economic environment where you know, 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.000 businesses operating conditions are going to be challenged, and you're 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.440 going to start to see certain companies when in certain 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.240 companies lose. When you've got a rising tide essentially driven 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:04.040 by very low interest rates, high corporate profits, it's easy, 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.800 essentially for companies to hide some of their underperformance. When 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.680 you move into the operating environment where are currently that's 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.240 going to be exposed and I think that's where you're 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:13.800 going to see some of this churn in the labor 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.640 market was certainly one to watch that you know, we 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.600 reflected on the screen just then the data that a 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:21.920 lot of these cuts coming out here on the West Coast, 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.320 and that's kind of correlating with the industries that are here. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.400 John Lear, chief economist at Morning consult Thank you for 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:33.720 joining us. All right, stick with us because Bloomberg talked 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.079 to Brooke Jenkins, san Francisco's new d A, about her 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.600 vision for the city and the future of Teking the 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.359 Bay Era. She was appointed after her predecessor was recalled. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.000 For context, this is the first time a serving d 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.280 A has been recalled in San Francisco's history. Here's what 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.280 she had to say about the work her office will 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.800 do in fighting crime in this city. And how it's 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:58.200 going to impact the economy. I've said, and I made 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:01.359 it very clear, all crime is illegal again in San Francisco. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.200 There will be some level of consequence for the people 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.040 who commit those crimes so that we could protect that 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.960 economic engine that those these retailers, these businesses, they provide jobs, 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.600 jobs that are residents need in order to support their families. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.560 We can't sit by and allow businesses to feel the 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.120 need to move to other states because crime is too 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.800 much of a problem, not only for their business bottom line, 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:27.800 but also for their workers who need to be able 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.600 to come safely to work. And so I'm committed to 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:34.000 making sure that we protect those jobs and these businesses 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.280 because that is what we need in order to remain 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.920 the beautiful city that we are. Coming out, we'll discuss 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.680 the latest news out of Twitter and the future of 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.400 content moderation on the platform. That's next This is bloom Bug. 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:01.320 Here's what's been going viral today. Even Elon Musk's Twitter, 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.319 there are red lines for permissible content, and Kanye West 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.600 or now known as ye who calls himself Yea, crossed 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.240 one of them with a late Thursday night post that 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.960 prompted the platform to suspend his account. And all of 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.839 this comes as we're awaiting patiently some news from Elon 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.480 Musk regarding Hunter Biden to lots of digests. Let's bring 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.720 in Bloomberg Sarah Fire, who leads our coverage of big 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.719 tech here at Bloomberg, Sarah. This is pretty confusing, but 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.000 let's start with the news of the day. I suppose 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:36.000 so far an action by Elon Musk that Yea formerly 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.800 known as Kana West, went too far. Give us the details. Well, 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:44.720 he posted a swastika, and Elon Musk, who had previously 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.839 seemed to embrace him even though he's a controversial figure, 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.720 they have had a history of, you know, semi friendship. 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.040 And then he said, well, listen, you've gone too far. 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:02.520 This isn't love, he said, and he suspended yea um. 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:07.040 And I think I think that was certainly shocking for 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.560 everyone who's been a fan of Yea, even though we've 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.240 we've heard these reports of his anti Semitic um comments 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.280 in the past. But I also think that some of 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:21.559 Elon Musk's supporters who thought, well, you're building this version 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.400 of Twitter where anything goes, where it's a free speech, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:30.960 absolutist environment. We're a little. You're surprised that that he 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.959 did end up taking action with Gay's posts as opposed 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.760 to saying, you know, anything goes here on on this 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.760 new version of Twitter. BuzzFeed reported and shared an image 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.160 of a screenshot from his account where appeared to show 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.760 that the suspension was only for twelve hours. Bloom Bugs 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.800 not verified that. We don't know, but but I thought 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.400 that was interesting. The other thing we're waiting for is 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:57.040 the launch of this new verification system, Twitter Blue color 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:01.040 codes for different entities and individuals. We don't think it's 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.440 happened quite yet, but it could happen. You know, verification 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.640 is so complicated, right because it it is only something 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:14.280 that has been available to a select few public official celebrities, journalists, 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:18.679 sports figures on the internet who are at risk of impersonation. 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.000 And what Musk is trying to do with Twitter Blue 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:27.080 is let anyone pay for it, and in the process, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.680 maybe those people will end up impersonating these brands that 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.360 we its just had. The first time they launched it, it 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.240 it was a total mess because we saw all these 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:40.800 major brands from Lately to Nintendo be impersonated and lose value, 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.880 and we saw advertisers pull their pull their spend. So 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.120 I'm not surprised that it's delayed. It's it's a tough 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:50.439 thing to get right, and um, you know a hard 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.880 problem to just come at come at this and say 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:55.280 anyone can have a blue check as long as they 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.400 pay dollars. Bloom bug, Sarahfra stay with us just for 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:00.319 a minute. Let's carry on the come to station that 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.600 I'm bringing. Claire Diaz or Ti. She was formerly Twitter's 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:08.560 head of Corporate Social Innovation and Philanthropy two thousand fourteen, 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:13.160 currently VC scout for Kleiner Perkins in Latin America. You 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.400 also wrote a book about Twitter, Twitter for Good. Um, 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.960 let's start, well, let's start. Let's start on this issue 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:29.480 of the day. The decision to suspend Yeah's account Musque 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.640 does appear to have redlines. You know, the Twitter platform. 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.360 You were there for many years, although it's been eight 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.120 years since you left the company. What is your read 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.800 on content moderation and policy decisions so far to this point. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.560 So I think it's really important to reframe kind of 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:47.560 the language we use a little bit. We hear a 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.440 lot of people talking about content moderation, and I understand 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.240 that is sort of what we call it, but that 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.160 really sits within trust and safety. And safety is really 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.600 important in the connection between free speech and safety. Is 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.480 what On does not seem to understand. Uh, you know, 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.880 I kind of sometimes say, you know, watching Elon building 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.760 public is kind of a mess because he really doesn't 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.400 know what he's doing. Right. He's going back to what 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.880 we thought social media was fifteen years ago and using 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.959 a lot of that language and a lot of those guidelines. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:17.960 But we've now seen, you know, those of us who've 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:19.800 worked at these companies, who've been on these trust and 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.880 safety teams. There's written books about social media, we know 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.320 that those things don't work right. In the early days 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:28.440 of Twitter of social media in general, we simply didn't 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.640 understand that we were creating information silos, that we were 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.440 a fertile breeding ground for misinformation, and we really didn't 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:41.160 understand that certain people were more persecuted than others. When 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.040 you talk about it, I mean, it is a problem 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.080 that seems easier to solve from the outside, right. Why 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.200 why won't we just let everyone say whatever they want 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.520 to say? Well, because then it creates a terrible user experience. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.680 As you see, must sort of rediscover all the things 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:58.680 that you had discovered when you were on Twitter. You 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.280 know what has been surprising to so far? I'll tell 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:06.239 you I was surprised today by him um categorizing harassment 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.480 as spam. I thought that that was that was an 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.720 interesting new way of thinking about harassments that maybe actually 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.240 is is positive. What what what do you think is 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.360 is you know, becoming a real to him now in 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.480 a way that maybe it wasn't before. Well, I mean, 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.480 some of these things are coming real to him, right, 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.120 Like he's starting to understand Okay, harassment might actually be 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.560 a problem in a way I didn't understand it because 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.560 I am the richest man in the world, and I 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.360 am a white grow who hasn't had concerns about trust 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.160 and safety in a long time in my life. Right, 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.960 So some of these things maybe he's slowly starting to 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.040 see sort of the light or gained some empathy on 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.600 but ultimately it's way too slow and it's not happening. 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.040 So it's just very concerning for users out there who 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.760 want to actually use the platform and for advertisements you 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.080 want to people to use it. I think I'm right 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:58.320 in saying many years ago, then known as Kanye West, 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.760 now known as Ya walked into the building and sent 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.040 his first tweet while you were there. Can you give 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.480 us the details of around that and what happened? Yeah, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.760 I remember in the summer of two thousand ten in California, 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.520 Kanye came in one day, lit up a blunt and 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.480 then sent his first tweet. And the first tweet, if 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.960 you go back and look at it is is him 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.280 spelling Silicon Valley wrong and then following it up with 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.840 a joke about women's breast implanoffs. Okay, we'll move on 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.360 from that subject of of YEA, Generally speaking, you have 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.600 focused your writing and your time at Twitter on on 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:41.360 the platform as a mechanism for social good, and Musque 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.880 talks about Twitter being the global town square, and he 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.320 has shared data in recent days about the growth of 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:54.840 the platform but also the decline of what what appears 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.720 to be the decline of hate speech. Are the rainy areas. 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.320 You actually agree with Musk on things that he's done, 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.880 things that he said about the potential for the platform. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:06.879 So I do. I mean, if there's one thing I 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.320 won't begrudge elon Musk, it's it's it is that he 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.520 really should be redoing the verification platform and it's good 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.159 to see him try, although he's failing a lot and 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:19.360 doing things we did ten or fifteen years ago. Verification, 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.320 since it started in two thousand nine, when you know, 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.760 a baseball manager was impersonated on Twitter and then sued 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.879 Twitter as a result, has always been a dumpster fire, 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:31.680 and it's always been very complicated, and from the beginning 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.399 there were not enough staff to handle it. You know, 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:35.879 I was one of many people tasked with sort of 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.000 working out some of the guidelines, and it's never really worked. 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.879 So in principle, the idea that people could pay to 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.199 be verified is actually something I think could be a 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.719 good idea. It may not be something I would pay for, 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:50.960 it may not be something you would pay for, but 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.320 it is something that many people out there would pay for, 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:57.359 and it certainly will ideally reduce the demand. Right anyone 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.000 who's ever worked at Twitter, ten years later, there's still 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.200 getting d m s in their in their Twitter feed, 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.240 people asking to be verified. Right, So there's a huge 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.960 demand for it that he can ultimately hopefully capture some 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:14.920 of by charging for. Unfortunately, when he launched Twitter Blue 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.600 last month for the eight dollars seven ninety nine monthly fee, 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:22.480 he ran into his own problem of content moderation and 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.520 sam bots just going crazy with the service. What do 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.520 you think about his own content and the way that 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:33.280 he's been posting on Twitter in this in this really 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.840 showman showman like manner, when where every few hours there's 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.359 another bombshell even today that you know, this this teasing 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.880 of a big drop of a story that's about to come. 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:46.960 I mean, this is this is the way that he's 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.040 been running in and and perhaps is leading to these 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:55.040 higher user numbers or sign ups that that we're seeing 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.520 or that he was talking about. Is that a sustainable 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.199 way to run Twitter? Is that something that um, you know, 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.000 even if it leads to user growth, would be uh, 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:09.280 something you would recommend doing long term. It's absolutely not sustainable, 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.920 obviously from the side of user growth, but also from 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.240 the side of advertisers. You know, more than half his 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.920 advertising budget has drops since advertisers are all pulling out. 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.200 I mean, I think it's important to understand what he's 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.800 doing today on Twitter, with this proposed live chat thing 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:26.919 he's supposed to be going live with right now, is 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.520 really an example of the way he behaves. Um. You know, 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.040 the last time I was on I compared him to 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.320 some of my twin children who don't have prefrontal corps 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.320 cortex is and I feel like he's sort of the 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.280 same way. But I mean, what he's doing today is 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.159 he's trying to get back at the Twitter security and 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.960 Twitter safety and trust head who was just kicked out, 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:49.240 and so this is sort of a revenge saying he's doing. 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.399 Um you all. Roth went on Kara Switchers podcast and 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.480 basically discussed what had happened during the Hunter Biden laptop 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:00.800 tweet censoring back in the fall of twenty twenty. And so, 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.080 I mean, now he's just coming out because Rath is 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.640 now quit and now he's going to go against him. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.760 It's it's the horrible Okay. That was the take from 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:14.080 Claire diez Ortiz, formerly Twitter's head of Corporate Social Innovation, 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.640 and Flamproby. I'dad you did leave Twitter eight years ago 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.320 and that was your opinion, but you know, many people 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:22.200 see you long musk as in the end improving the 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:24.720 companies that he works on. It's a wait and see 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.399 when it comes to Twitter. Also Bloomberg Sarah Fryer, who 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:38.919 leads big Tech coverage here, thank you both time for 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.040 talking tech and look at what's going on in the 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.240 world of venture capital and startups. Starting with the Asian 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.560 crypto exchange zipmex It's about to get acquired by a 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.200 VC fund for about one billion dollars. Thirty million will 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.600 be in cash, but the remainder will be in crypto tokens. 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.119 This is one of the first rescues in Asia since 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:01.160 a wave of defaults ripped through the sector and more layoffs. 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:04.960 Light Street Capital Management just dismissed some staff focused on 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.160 bets in private markets. This comes after a steep drop 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.880 in the hedge funds tech heavy portfolio. That's according to sources. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.159 The firm already shut down in San Francisco office a 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.320 few months ago. Finally, the defense tech startup and A 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.159 Rill has raised about one point five billion dollars in 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.080 a new round, as reported by The Financial Times. The 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.840 investment values the firm it's seven billion dollars, up from 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.600 four point two billion dollars eighteen months ago. And A 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.280 Hills founder Parmer Lucky plans to use the new funds 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:35.479 to build a large defense company using new tech like 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:46.439 AI and drones. I think this is one of the 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:48.560 most uncertain environments that i've been a part of you know, 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:52.280 we it's very difficult to tell where things are going 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:54.200 to wind up. I think Europe is certainly going to 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:59.320 be weaker and is likely headed into a recession. We're 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.359 preparing for that. In the US, it's unclear recession might happen, 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:04.800 it might be a soft landing, etcetera. So I think 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.920 from our standpoint, we want to be prepared for any eventuality. 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:12.679 When you look at our marketplace, we are a marketplace business, 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.280 so we don't have significant fixed costs. UH. In a 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:21.040 weaker labor environment, our supply position will tend to get better. 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:23.800 We will be a place where more drivers can come 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:28.600 to earn real money. On this last quarter, for example, 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:32.680