Character Limit
How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
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Character Limit
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Narrated by:
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Edoardo Ballerini
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Written by:
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Kate Conger
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Ryan Mac
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
In a world of viral ideas and emotion, who gets to control the narrative, who gets to be heard, and what does power really cost?
This is the story of the showdown between Elon Musk and Twitter and how the richest man on earth suddenly came to control one of the most powerful media platforms in the world. In Character Limit, award-winning reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac draw on exclusive interviews, unreported documents and internal Twitter recordings to provide a revelatory, three-dimensional, and definitive account of what really happened when Musk showed up to takeover Twitter, spoiling for a brawl and intent on revolution, with his merciless, sycophantic cadre of lawyers, investors, and bankers.
In part, this is the story of Twitter's founder, Jack Dorsey, who idealistically dreamed of building a 'digital town square' but detested Wall Street and never built a profitable business, and Musk, one of the site's most influential users with over 70 million followers. To Musk, Twitter—once known for its almost absolute commitment to free speech—had utterly lost its way. Blaming it for the proliferation of what he called the “woke mind virus”, he claimed that the survival of humanity itself depended on the future of the site.
In January 2022, Musk began secretly accumulating Twitter stock. By April, he was its largest shareholder, and, soon after, he made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company for the unimaginable sum of $44 billion. Backed into a corner, Twitter’s board accepted his offer—only for Musk to change his mind, forcing Twitter to sue him.
Drawing on unparalleled sources, this is the defining story of our time told in vivid, cinematic detail.
'The definitive account of how the world’s richest man, in a fit of unbridled vanity and arrogance, took over and destroyed our digital town square' John Carreyrou, bestselling author of Bad Blood?
‘Astonishing. Kate Conger and Ryan Mac’s meticulous, comprehensive reporting turns an opaque mess brutally transparent’ Jia Tolentino, bestselling author of Trick Mirror
‘Gripping… Through fly-on-the-wall reporting, Character Limit takes readers inside Elon Musk's tumultuous Twitter takeover and the disruption of a company, an industry, and the online public square. What a wild ride' Bradley Hope, bestselling author of Billion Dollar Whale
Critic Reviews
'Conger and Mac have written an engrossing and detailed history, not just of Elon Musk, but of how we got to a place where the world’s richest man wants to buy the world’s biggest megaphone. This is a story about power, yes, but it's also about how the corrosion of online life and the addictions of social media can come for us all, even the richest man in the world' (Jay Caspian Kang, author of THE LONELIEST AMERICANS)
'Character Limit is a masterclass in investigative reporting. Mac and Conger’s meticulous research provides readers with an unflinching and intimate portrait of Musk’s chaotic decision making and high-stakes power plays, and the far-reaching impact of his reckless actions and ethical lapses on users and society at large. This gripping exposé reveals previously unreported insights into the acquisition, challenging the mainstream narrative of Musk as a visionary tech genius and revealing how he has upended one of the world's most influential social media platforms. With vivid prose, captivating narrative storytelling, and insightful analysis, Character Limit will be the tech book of the year, and is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the intersection of technology, business, and culture—and anyone who seeks to understand the true cost of innovation without accountability' (Taylor Lorenz, author of EXTREMELY ONLINE)