WEBVTT - Musk See TV 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:09.320 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.320 Well, Elon Musk is now the richest person on the planet. 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.520 More than half the satellites in space are owned and 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.360 controlled by one man. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:23.959 Well, he's a legitimate super genius, I mean legitimate. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.800 He says he's always voted for Democrats, but this year 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:28.600 it will be different. He'll vote Republican. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.280 There is a reason the US government is so reliant 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.920 on him. Alon Musk is a scam artist and he's 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:38.880 done nothing. Anything he does, he's fascinating people. 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.680 Welcome to Elon Ing, Bloomberg's weekly podcast about Elon Musk. 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.480 It's Tuesday, September third. I'm your host, David Papadopolis. Welcome 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.680 back from Labor Day. This week it's all about X. 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.319 We'll start with the ban of X in Brazil. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.720 And then we're gonna hit Elon's latest election antics on 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.880 you guessed it X, and then we're gonna wrap up 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:17.880 by discussing his vision and dreams for X TV. Joining 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.200 us to talk about that are some familiar faces. Max Chafkin, Hey, 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:23.080 what's going on? 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:23.840 Max? How are you? 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:25.160 Happy? Belated Labor Day? 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:29.600 Happy blated Labor Day, and to you Kurt Wagner aka 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.399 Number eight and a social media reporter for us here 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:32.960 at Bloomberg. 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.440 Kurt, Hey, David, how are you good? All right, Kurt, 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.240 We're gonna start with you. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.320 Just give us an overview for those of us out 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:44.920 there who were just at the beach, soaking up the rays, 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.840 sipping summer martinis. And we're not following the ins and 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:54.080 outs of Elon Muskin X versus the Brazilian Supreme Court. 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.440 What is transpired and where do things stand there now? 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:57.280 Yeah? 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.240 So I believe it was Friday, so a lot of 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.080 people may have already been checked out for the long weekend, 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.840 at least here in the US. A Brazilian judge basically 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.680 cut off X or banned X for the entire country. 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.519 And this had been the end result of a long 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.359 saga that has played out over the last several months. 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.960 The short version is that this judge he wanted X 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.919 to take action on certain accounts on the platform for 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:30.200 sharing misinformation or anti democratic content. X and Elon, of course, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.240 you know, saying well free speech absolutism, said no, we're 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.280 not going to do that. As things sort of got 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.720 more intense than judge said, well, I'm going to arrest 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.840 the person or attempt to arrest the person who is 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.480 representing X and country. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.600 That was weeks ago, the threat to arrest them, right. 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.959 That's right that we talked about that, because then Elon's 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.760 response to that was, well, we're going to leave the 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.720 country entirely. We're going to you know, stay operational, that 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.000 you'll be able to use the app in Brazil, but 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:02.720 we're not going to have employees there. There's not going 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.040 to be anyone to arrest. And the judge then said, well, 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.880 in order to operate here, you need someone here to 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:13.399 basically answer questions for the company and you know, receive 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.840 in this case, our complaints. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:17.560 You don't have any entire. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:23.040 X Brazilian staff cannot be working from home in the Bahamas. 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:28.200 Yeah, in Brazil, they need someone physically there to handle 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:29.800 an issue like this. And so he says, you need 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.040 to appoint a legal representative otherwise I'm going to ban you. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.880 Elon says, you know, more or less, shove off. I'm 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.480 not going to appoint anybody, and kind of I don't 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.160 know if he was attempting to call his bluff or 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.080 just simply said, you know, we'll we'll be happy to 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.520 be banned. I don't care, but the judge did follow 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.560 through and band X on Friday. I believe it's officially 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.880 no longer working for people in Brazil, and it's a 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.400 fine if you use a VPN to access it. It's 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.760 a way to sort of redirect your Internet traffic to 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:01.960 maybe a server that's in another country, right, so you 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.440 would first go to a server in a country where 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.600 X is allowed, and then it sort of redirects it 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.360 and that way you get around the ban that way. 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.040 But again there's a fine for people who do that. 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.960 So you know, we're at this point now where X 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.440 is banned. The Supreme Court, the rest of the Supreme 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:22.719 Court upheld the original judge's decision, so X can still appeal, 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.000 but you know, we're kind of at this stage where 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.599 things are looking like X is just gone unless Elon 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.800 is willing to concede to some of these demands. 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.080 You know, a year ago, Elon Musk was asked by 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.760 the government of Turkey to ban a bunch of accounts 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:41.240 and he went through with it under court order. And 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.240 the explanation at the time offered was, you know, yes, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.760 I'm a free speech absolutist, but the question is either 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.880 you know, lose access to a handful of accounts in Turkey, 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.000 or lose access to the service altogether. And he argued, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.080 you know, it's better to better to preserve X and Turkey, 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.160 you know, making the making a different calculation here. Not 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.400 entirely clear why, although I suppose Musk would argue that 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.920 there was less transparency, like one of the big reasons 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.000 he offered at the time for opposing this order was 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.799 that the judge was was limiting what X could. 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:14.480 Say about it. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:16.680 I don't know if that's significant enough to put the 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.120 entire operations in the country at risk, but but of 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.200 course Elon Musk saw it that way. But what I 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.720 think is actually going on here is you have Brazilian politics, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.760 which Elon Musk has already sort of entered the fray right. 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.240 He's attempted to cozy up to Bolsonnaro, former. 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.960 President, sort of far right president of Brazil, who I believe, 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.840 Max correct me if I'm wrong, who is closely allied 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.840 with many of the accounts right on X that the 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:45.760 Brazilian Supreme Court wanted to shut down. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.360 Yeah, we know that because Twitter released a sort of 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.960 sequel to the Twitter Files called the Alexander Files. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.000 That's the first name of the Brazilian justice who ordered. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:59.400 This banims right and thank you and and so so right. 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.640 It was it looked like seven accounts. These are all 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.800 sort of far right aligne. It really feels like, you know, 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:10.200 Elon musk Is, in inserting himself into Brazilian politics, has 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.599 now you know, decided to make this a thing, just 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.800 as he's made you know, his engagement in American politics 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.200 a thing. He's you know, posting memes, he's you know, 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.040 he's he's going to war over this, and you know, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.680 you can debate whether that makes sense as a principal 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.480 stand I think for X it's not great news because 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.240 Brazil is a pretty substantial market for social media. 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.560 Yeah, it's a big market for them from a user 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:37.919 base standpoint, significantly less, you know, important from a financial standpoint. 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.600 But we don't know exactly how many users because they 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.080 don't they've never broken those out. We've seen some estimates, 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.120 I believe E Marketer said it was around forty million 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:50.640 monthly active accounts, which would put Brazil probably in the 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.360 top five, maybe even in the top three, behind the 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.919 United States and Japan in terms of total size. For 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.640 X but revenue wise, again, they've never broken it out. 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.320 I was texting with a source over the weekend and 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.760 he told me that, you know, it used to be 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:10.320 that Brazil was around two percent of global revenue for them, 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.440 So you know, those numbers obviously could could be adjusted 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.240 slightly since Elon has taken over. But point being is 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.560 that it's a small, very small market for them. From 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.320 a business standpoint, It's it's possible that Elon is making 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.640 a calculation here saying that, you know, taking this stand 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.160 does not hurt them very much financially, but the you know, 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:36.400 the benefits of being of looking or appearing to be 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.200 the ultimate free speech guy on a global scale far 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.520 outweigh what he's losing in actual Yes, And to. 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.240 That point, it is my understanding that for not only 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.559 the far right in Brazil and other places, but also 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:54.560 in just some more mainstream conservative circles, this has become 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.360 a bit of a cause celeb in Brazil. I get 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.520 the sense that there are a lot of factions who 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.680 feel like this is a bit of overreach by the 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.080 Supreme Court there, and then in some ways they are 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.240 perhaps exacerbating the problem. It feels to me, though, Max 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.400 like at this point though each side Gimo Eyes, the 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.760 judge and Elon Musk really just have their backs up 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.880 and our and our loath to back down at this point. 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.240 Right, what's sort of most extreme about this order. 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:25.720 It's not the you know, ordering X to suspend certain accounts, 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:27.760 which is, as we said, has happened in other countries 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.040 and X has complied to argue whether that how significant 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.160 the question of transparency really is. But this idea of 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.640 putting a fine on on VPN users like that is 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:37.400 a pretty. 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.760 Nine thousand dollars a day, don't and I don't know. 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:40.720 That it's enforceable. 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.120 Like a lot of authoritarian countries have really struggled to 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.079 including China, have really struggled to crack down on if 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:48.200 you can't use But like. 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.480 In Brazil, to be clear, is not an authoritarian country. 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:52.600 I mean, Elon Musk is now saying this is you know, 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.120 this is evidence, you know, but it is not. No, 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:57.440 what I'm saying is there's a real question about whether 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.200 this can be enforced even but regardless of so that, 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:04.240 it's like threatening people with a fine, a significant fine 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.280 for just for attempting to consume this content like that 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.880 is pretty that's pretty out there, right, that's pretty far 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:15.160 away from what most countries have done in these situations, 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.359 most democratic countries have done in these situations. 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:21.400 It is something that I learned as a young reporter 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.839 in Brazil in the late nineteen nineties that the Brazilian 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:29.240 Supreme Court likes to exercise its influence. It will not 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.880 be cowed or bullied by anyone, and certainly not by 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.720 Elon Musk. And to this point it actually almost seems 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.120 to have gotten into a bit of a tit for 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.959 tat sort of personal thing with him that from Afar 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:41.160 seems a bit odd. 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:42.960 Now Kurt tell us this. 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:48.839 It seems that another key business of Mosques, SpaceX's starling unit, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.080 has gotten ensnared in this whole conflict. 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.000 What's the situation there, Well, so, as part. 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.840 Of the penalty that the judge is imposing on X 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:03.200 includes some financial fines, financial penalties, and X is not 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.880 paying those fines. But Starlink is in Brazil and prominent 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.600 in Brazil and has bank accounts in Brazil, and so 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.040 the judge instead is saying, well, Elon, you know, if 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.160 your one company is not going to pay the fines 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.520 that are owed, we will just get the money from 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.920 your other company, So I believe they froze the bank 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.480 accounts from Starlink in order to pay these fines. I 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.000 think this is such an interesting element of this whole 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.280 thing because we've talked at length on this pod of course, 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.760 about sort of the constellation of Elon's companies, right, and 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.520 the benefits at times of him pulling resources from Tesla 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.000 to benefit others or vice versa. And here we're seeing 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:45.480 the real negative of this, you know, Elon connection, because 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.440 now he's being sort of threatened with one company by another. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.680 And this was a huge concern. You have to remember 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:55.280 when Elon bought Twitter in late twenty twenty two, this 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.240 is one of the biggest concerns was like, hey, you 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.160 have all these other companies where governments could apply leverage 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.800 on you, you know, in China and India and other places. 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.040 Are you prepared to deal with the fact that like 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.440 Tesla could be used as a bargaining chip to get 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.920 to X and the speech related issues at X. And 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:14.839 it's been talked about, but this is the first time 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.040 I think we've really seen it actually play out in 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:18.000 a negative way for Elon. 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.200 Yeah, this is that's a really great point, Like this 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.440 could be a Canarian coal mine situation where we could 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:27.240 see other countries, probably not like the US, but but 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.199 but other countries you know at tempt the same kind 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.800 of thing. And you know, Elon Musk's SpaceX's response has 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.080 been like, you can't. This is totally ridiculous. You're conflating, 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.920 you know, Elon Musk with SpaceX. But it's a little 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:41.960 hard to make that argument when you're when you're CEO 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.680 goes around acting like they're one and the same. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:46.160 And because he not only. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.480 Not only is the CEO like he is also of 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:50.440 Tesla and other companies, but in the case of both 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:56.120 SpaceX and of X, he is also majority shareholders. 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.319 He not does he not have a majority stake in SpaceX. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.440 I think he definitely is. He's majority control. I'm not 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:02.360 sure that he has. 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.600 But if you are the majority, you have majority control 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.480 over company, which again would not be the case with Tesla. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.719 I mean you can almost sort of see it right 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.520 the link. It's it's not crazy, Hey, you own this. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.800 You also own that they're all essentially, you know, units of. 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:19.960 A big And again, when you have a guy who 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.640 goes around saying all these rules are bs, you know, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:23.920 just like, let's just go. 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.400 You know, I don't pay attention to the the. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.600 Ins and outs of securities laws like I think it's 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.360 much easier for regulators say, come on, man, you are 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.040 SpaceX like and anyone who's looking like, yeah you can. 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.679 You can talk about the bylaws or whatever or the 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.239 cap table. But everybody knows, including people who work at SpaceX, 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:44.600 that Elon Musk controls SpaceX. He that these companies effectively 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.640 operate like one conglomerate. 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.120 So is it really surprising when. 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.600 A judge and you know, in Brazil or anywhere else, 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:52.600 treats them as such? 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:57.480 Okay, Max. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.920 So Musk has been eching up a storm about US 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:06.439 politics and election, the upcoming election in recent days, including 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.320 by the way, saying that Kamala Harris supports the banning 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.840 of X there in Brazil KEX by EKEX. 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.920 What's it looked like flipping on X yesterday and seeing, 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.360 I think, in particular, a post from Elon Musk saying 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.760 that you know, Kamala Harris has promised to govern as 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.319 a communist from day one, and then this kind of 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.960 like AI generated picture of Kamala and a communist outfit 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.439 that goes beyond just like a campaign ad where you're 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.079 saying these policies are communists like or or some of 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.640 the attacks you've seen from Trump and to something that 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:43.080 more feels like what we would associate with, right, like 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.439 disinformation type accounts like It's It. And the other thing 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.120 he did yesterday that was also quite strange, I thought, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.400 is he kind of boosted an in cell adjacent post 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.920 or a post that was arguing that the world would 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.880 better off if only high status males were in charge. 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.400 So again we're really it's really crossing into kind of 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.440 you know, far right posting twenty four to seven. 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.880 I think this is just the consequence of. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.480 Elon Musk, you know, getting involved in the presidential race 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.839 and is a he's effectively part of Donald Trump's campaign, 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.040 and so he's posting that way at this point, although 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.960 posting in his kind of idiosyncratic, extra provocative way. 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:25.240 Now, Kurt, I suppose his argument is going to be that, well, 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:29.160 everyone's going to know that my post of Kamala there 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.240 is just a parody, I will say, having taken a 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.040 very quick glance at the post. Yeah, it doesn't seem 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:38.280 to be anything particularly real about it, right. 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.440 Yeah, I mean that would be the argument humor. Right, 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.680 He's used this sort of humor defense repeatedly since taking 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.240 over that like, hey, as long as it's funny or 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.600 it's intended to be funny, you know, it should be fine. 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.840 I think more than anything, I think what this weekend 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:57.080 has just reinforced for me is just the you know, 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.880 the way in which he is no longer even pretending 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.880 to keep his thumb off the scale of politics. 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:04.080 Right. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:05.920 You remember when he first took over Acts, it was 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.160 very much like, hey, I'm I'm not gonna, you know, 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.360 turn this into a political. 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:14.160 The I'm just neutral, yeah, right exactly. 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.240 And it's just like the we've come so so so 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:23.920 far from that kind of initial takeover and initial pledge 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.040 or promise or or at least framing. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:27.600 It's just striking right. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.000 Part of the problem here is with Musk's like philosophy 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.080 of free speech, like this idea that the platforms shouldn't 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.080 make any decisions, should be all up to the government, 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.320 and platforms should just be like crazy free for alls 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.240 and then and then let the government step in number one. 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.440 It creates the standoffs right where like we're talking about 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.840 in Brazil, but it also creates you know, all of 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.480 a sudden, like Elon Musk, the CEO of one of 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.880 these major companies is acting like you know, any old poster. 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.360 I don't know, like it it it it's just further 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:00.280 eroding trusted and it's almost like daring governments to step 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.400 in and try to make rules. 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.040 And and so I don't know. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:05.680 I mean, you know, I think there are critiques from 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:07.720 both the left and the right over how like Facebook 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:12.360 managed misinformation and disinformation, But you know, it doesn't it's 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:14.840 not clear to me that this is like an improvement, 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:16.040 you know, in any metric. 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:20.840 To Max's point, whatever's legally allowed as fair game. If 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.240 it's not legal, you know, we're going to take it down. 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:26.440 That's not exactly how he does it anyway. Right like this, 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.880 he when he wants something removed, the account that's following 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:34.080 his private plane, if he wants to take what is it? 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.120 The word cis. 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.560 Right is now like considered a slur in the US 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:39.680 if you're if you're on. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:40.800 X or something like that. 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:44.000 I mean, the point being is that he's very much like, Hey, 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.080 anything goes as long as it's legal, and with a 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.840 major caveat being that also if I'm okay with that 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.080 thing being on X because if not personally, I will 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:55.640 make a change as well. And I think that's the 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.280 big issue is he's not truly free speech absolutist within 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.520 the law. He says that, but then he makes his 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.760 own decisions when they suit him, and I think that's 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.560 where people get frustrated. 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:07.800 He puts his own spin on it. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.800 He also, max, I believe, continues to ex about his 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.800 potential future role in a Donald Trump administration. 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:16.240 Yeah. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:16.840 I mean he's. 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:20.639 Disputed a lot of the reporting, you know, including reporting 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.639 it's based on the actual filings and so on. But 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.560 in terms of his support of Donald Trump and kind 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.119 of attempted to play it down in various ways. But 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.680 this is one thing he's genuinely seems excited about. He's 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.199 he's ready to serve if called upon. It's like, I 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:35.760 don't know what the opposite of a sherman esque denial is, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:38.520 but that's what it is. He's basically raised his hand 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.560 and said I want to be the you know, efficiency czar, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.240 which you know, given Elon Musk has some pretty out 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:47.040 there views on the government, you know, it's hard to 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.359 imagine any of this actually coming to pass. Like, I 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.720 don't think that Elon Musk will be giving broad leeway 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.679 to like ru you know, closed federal agencies, but he 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.199 definitely has that appetite. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.520 All right, we're gonna move on to the launch of 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.040 the beta version of x TV for Android. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:10.480 Man, I've been waiting. 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.920 For this, man, you know, I'm sure feels the same way. 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:13.960 But like, I'm gonna pivot. 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.840 Remind me of what exactly x TV is. This is 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:18.000 where we go to watch porn. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.840 Yes, now you can watch porn on your on the 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.640 big screen at home. It is essentially the idea of 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.919 video being a big thing on x and that what 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.720 Elon Musk has wanted pretty much since he got to 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.919 the company was to have some sort of app on 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.639 your TV to make it easier to stream these shows 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.480 Tucker Carlson or Elon Musk interviewing Trump or or whatever else. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.320 It's kind of a weird and confused set of ideas 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:47.520 that feels like at once kind of caught up in 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.040 the past, like, hey, it's not real unless it's on 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.640 the big screen in your living room and also sort 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:54.840 of out of touch with like the realities of how 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.800 videos consumed. But anyway, Yeah, there's a on Android TV 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.520 which is like one of the platform, one of the 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:05.440 operating systems for TVs. It has modest market share. I 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.800 saw figures around six percent market share, so not a 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.560 huge amount. But you can download, you can get this 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.399 x TV app and you know, watch that Tucker, that 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.800 great hard hitting Tucker interview or whatever else you know, 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:19.919 in the comfort of your home on the big screen. 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.760 Kurt expectations from you for XTV. 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.679 I think it's a huge waste of time and resources 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.560 for the company, to be honest with you, I mean, 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.920 I think Max sort of flicked at it right, like 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.919 this isn't what. I don't know anybody who's clamoring to 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.080 bring the x videos they see scrolling through their phone 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.400 and blast them onto the sixty inch TV in their 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:42.920 living room. 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.520 So I just think, like, well, can. 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.080 I just say for one second, car hold on, let 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:48.240 me just say everyone age as. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.640 I as being the old man in the room here, 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:53.119 as I will have to say, as I watch my. 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:59.080 Daughter or my nephews and nieces and they watch everything, 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.639 games and everything just on their phones, and I'm like, 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:05.159 as the I'm like it is slightly unsatisfying to me, 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.320 Like I need I need a big come on, give 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.200 me a big screen or something. So I'm all over 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:10.879 X David. 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:12.880 This is what I was going to say. 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.320 This would make sense if there was a huge library 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.080 of high quality videos that were worthy of being on 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:23.280