6. Free Bird

11/02/22 • 30 min

Now that Elon Musk is officially the CEO of Twitter, how will the richest man in the world choose to shape the future of the most influential social media platform? Bec Hill finds out by assembling her team of Elon experts to unpack everything that has happened in the days since Elon walked into Twitter HQ with a bathroom sink.

As the 16-year-old app begins an unprecedented transformation, Bec talks to tech journalists about the plans Elon has already laid out for blue ticks, content moderation and potentially bringing back controversial users. They discuss the swift cuts Elon made to his senior management team and what this could all mean for the future of Twitter. Then Bec speaks to the voice of Elon’s tweets about what it was like to inhabit the Chief Twit and what he and the other guests would do if they were powerful tech billionaires.

Produced by Audio Always for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Produced by Audio Always for BBC Radio 5 Live.

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5. BREAKING NEWS: Deal or No Deal

The news is in, Elon Musk has closed the deal with Twitter. We find out how he broke the news, who he has fired, and ask - what is going on with THAT sink?

Produced by Audio Always for BBC Radio 5 Live.

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Introducing X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story

The story of Elon Musk, the way it's usually told, makes him sound like a fictional character, a comic-book superhero - or supervillain. He's the world's richest man, and now an adviser to the US President. He uses X - his social media platform - to berate politicians he doesn't agree with around the world.

He plans to put chips in people's brains, and to save the world by colonising Mars. Musk's visions of the future seem to stem from the science fiction that has fired his imagination since he was a boy. But what's the real story, the true history, behind the comic book? Back in 2021 Harvard History Professor and New Yorker Writer Jill Lepore became fascinated by this question.

So she made a Radio 4 podcast which tried to explain Musk through the science fiction he grew up with - tales of superheroes with origin stories that seemed to influence how he understands his own life. So much has happened since then that we decided to update that series - and add three new episodes, too. Because Musk keeps changing, and so does what Lepore calls 'Muskism' - his brand of extreme capitalism and techno-futurism. And strangely, his origin story keeps changing, too.

How can understanding these fantasy stories - some of them a century old - help us understand the future Musk wants to take us to?