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Elon Musk has taken to Twitter. Since then he has only made negative headlines.
Elon Musk (51) has been in the headlines for weeks. It’s mostly negative. Now a companion who knows him well expresses himself. And doesn’t paint a good picture of the Tesla founder and neo-Twitter owner. Musk is a master of manipulation and a major risk to democracy, says Roger McNamee (66). He is an investor in Silicon Valley and former mentor of Mark Zuckerberg (38) in an interview with the “SonntagsZeitung”.
If Musk does in fact step down from his CEO position, “he will appoint a straw man who will give him control of Twitter. He wants to keep Twitter, he’s not going to sell Twitter,” says McNamee. The situation on Twitter is not hopeless, “Apple saved Musk”. The fact that Tim Cook (62) has no intention of stopping advertising on Twitter is an important signal to the economy that advertising on Twitter is harmless.
“Hungry for Attention”
However, McNamee doubts that Musk is really serious about Twitter: “What drives him is the hunger for attention and recognition. Twitter is a soap opera and Musk is its sole star.” Twitter is a means to an end: “Musk has realized that he can control the media if he distracts them with details. That’s why he’s constantly changing the rules of the game for Twitter,” says McNamee.
For him it is clear: “Musk is part of a growing group of Silicon Valley billionaires who consider democracy obsolete and free media as enemies. Because they are said to slow down technological progress.” They would want a world where they pull all the strings and where journalists acted as uncritical mouthpieces for their views.
“These people live in a bubble!” McNamee says to the “SonntagsZeitung”. They are surrounded by nods and have little or no contact with the real world. Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Bankman-Fried exemplify this trend towards the dismantling of public trust and democracy. “They have no problem harming their customers if it serves their purposes.” (pbe)