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Twitter is officially dead. Last week, twitter.com became x.com, marking the final step in a rebranding effort that the company’s owner, Elon Musk, announced last year. The change marks a shift for the now birdless app under Musk’s reign, which has welcomed Nazis and white supremacists back to the platform, dissolved its Trust and Safety council, and has become a cesspool of disinformation and conspiracy. Meanwhile, people seem to still long for authentic connection—like with the Dublin to New York portal that connects the cities through a live videostream. Today on WIRED Politics Lab, we trace Twitter’s demise and delve into what the rise of the portal could mean for the evolution of how we talk to each other and consume politics online.

Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.

David Gilbert: It’s going good. Just back from the portal in Dublin so I’m full of joy and happiness.

By Matt Burgess

By Marah Eakin

[Archival audio clip]: Right.

David Gilbert: He doesn’t really remind people of it too much. It finally went through and Musk took over, and very quickly made changes. I’m not sure, at that point, Makena, do you think that he really had a vision in mind for what his version of Twitter was going to look like?

By Matt Burgess

[Archival audio clip]: Thousands of Twitter employees were laid off today and the news of the termination came in an email.

[Archival audio clip]: They stuck with Twitter through all the uncertainty, only to be laid off into this economy.

Makena Kelly: It wasn’t really even just changing the policy on this, and changing all the blue checks and stuff. He also was inviting back people who had previously been cast off.

By Matt Burgess

By Marah Eakin

Leah Feiger: Like you said, just having white supremacists and Nazis back on the platform, this is an entirely different space now.

David Gilbert: It’s completely different. He’s welcomed back Nick Fuentes, who is anti-Semite and white supremacist, as well as Alex Jones, a world-renowned conspiracist who has become bankrupt after spreading rumors and conspiracies about school shootings. It’s a completely different environment. I think people were hanging on, hoping that something might change and it might go back to the way it was, where people could have genuine conversations, could genuinely use it as a newsfeed, effectively, which is what a lot of people used Twitter for, especially under breaking news circumstances. But that just didn’t happen. Things kept getting worse, and worse, and worse. More and more people left the platform. While there still is some mainstream politicians using the site, the vast majority of the biggest accounts, political accounts on the platform now are those who espouse a right-wing viewpoint. And in a lot of cases, a far-right viewpoint. That’s something clearly that Musk has embraced and is something that Musk has, I guess, wanted to do for a long time because he’s had relationships with a lot of these figures, even before he became CEO of Twitter, back in 2022.

Leah Feiger: They blamed Ukraine, which was wild, within minutes. That was wild to watch happen.

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Léa Feiger: That’s true.

David Gilbert: Without checking anything, without doing any verification. I think John Scott Railton summed it up nicely. He is a researcher at Citizen Lab and consults Twitter extensively. He simply said, “It’s an unnecessary quagmire of incorrect information about the shooting. I tried to search for his name, the most productive effects I get are almost, in fact, contradictory conspiracy theories. Good luck even when finding verified and substantiated information. “

Léa Feiger: Wow.

David Gilbert: That succinctly sums up Twitter’s delight with a breaking news story that’s happening right now.

Makena Kelly: It’s also a shame, because no platform has ever taken Twitter’s position in this area again.

Lea Feiger: No!

Makena Kelly: I feel like every time we have a news event, I go through Twitter, overwhelmed. A few minutes passed, when we were recording this, I went on Twitter and saw that there was news that the RNC was being evacuated due to some kind of substance in the building. I’m passing through and some people talk about white powder, and others tweet about vials of blood. Of course, the Jack Posobiecs, the ones who spread this data all the time, cling to this story of blood vials even though I haven’t noticed this showing anywhere.

Léah Feiger: Of course not.

Makena Kelly: These stories are coming out so temporarily and are going so viral that there’s no way to identify or counter them because of all the changes Musk has made.

Leah Feiger: It’s very difficult to break the news at the most productive time. Especially today, with the compartmentalization of the Internet, we get data from all corners. Now, with Musk’s Twitter, it seems like it’s the most productive example of That. With all this, how are policies adapting to all these changes?

Makena Kelly: Absolutely. Of course, we’ve noticed Biden on TikTok. We’ve noticed that Trump does everything he does by inviting influential people to see him. But I think what’s happening now is relational organizing. In 2021 and 2022, the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns in Georgia were among the first to experiment with large-scale relational organizing. When I talk about relational organizing, I’m communicating about when the electorate posts memes, organizes occasions, organizes organizing discussions. They simply communicate with their peers in the church and tell them everything about the vote. But this is based on tools, data and other elements from political organizations. They had the data and the tissues they needed to have those conversations. In fact, this has increased a lot lately. Of course, Biden’s crusade is experimenting with his own. There was an article in the Washington Post last year about when Tailor Swift’s album was about to be released. . . It would have been just a few months ago. Some of those relational organizers organized events at schools and created the beaded bracelets we are so accustomed to.

By José Cox

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Léa Feiger: I love it. I love it. It’s very interesting. No one trusts strangers on the web anymore, which I guess is rarely the most shocking revelation. But it’s crazy to see the democratic system recognize this and find tactics around it. In this fragmented online world, I guess it literally makes sense. David, I also wanted to connect you with recent reports from the New York Times revealing how some politicians, especially right-wing leaders around the world, have benefited from Musk’s takeover of Twitter.

David Gilbert: yes, we go back to the Musk story. I think it was in 2015 when Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, visited Tesla’s factory in California. This is an attractive resolution because for years, Musk has bowed to those authoritarian personalities because he needs to introduce SpaceX or Tesla in countries like India or China. So he has spoken to Xi Jinping and many other countries where he wants to be able to access markets or, in some cases, raw materials. Most likely, the acquisition of Twitter has something to do with or is part of the calculation that if you own this platform and are able to handle those authoritarian figures on the platform, it could help you in other areas of your business. Or maybe it was absolutely a coincidence. Who knows?It’s hard to say.

Leah Feiger: In the New York Times article, reporters discovered that Musk was speaking vocally to India’s Narendra Modi on X, which may also have led to Musk getting a reduction in import duties for Tesla. Or, in Brazil, for Bolsonaro they have possibly allowed Musk to get a new deal for Starlink. These are very quick links to make. It has become its own little advertising market that used to be very different.

David Gilbert: Ouais. I think the one who impressed me the most was Javier Milei in Argentina. When he assumed the presidency, Musk introduced him on the platform and shared videos about him. One of them, actually, I think, is the most widely seen publication. But it turns out that, as the Times reports, Argentina is one of the largest resources and has the largest natural reserves of lithium, a detail that is one of the main parts of the battery of Tesla cars. which could give Tesla a much more robust and less expensive source of supply.

Leah Feiger: It’s so wild.

David Gilbert: Lithium in the future. The very direct effects of how Musk courts those foreign leaders become very interesting. This shows how it operates its platform in a way that is directly favorable to it, rather than necessarily favorable to its users.

Léa Feiger: Total. It’s no surprise that acceptance of reality is so low right now. If we think about the future, what will the Internet or online political communications look like?

By José Cox

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Makena Kelly: I think it’s becoming more and more vulcanized, as we’ve seen, because there’s not just one platform for other people to meet online. Of course, there never was.

Léa Feiger: That’s true.

Makena Kelly: But just five years ago, there were far fewer options. Nowadays, I can create any Discord server, a subreddit, an organization chat, a Telegram channel, an organization meeting. You get what I’m saying. Anyone can do anything and bring together a certain number of people in a certain organization and talk in a more intimate and personal setting. The countryside recognizes this. I think the political teams also recognize this. They recruit other people from those small, but of course deeply engaged communities, whether online, as we talk about in organization discussions, and also offline, as churches and other gathering places. These other people act as ambassadors for the campaign. Of course, those other people can speak more authentically to the other people in those communities because they are the ones who are part of them.

Léah Feiger: Logically.

David Gilbert: I was talking to researcher Renee DiResta recently. She has a new e-book called Invisible Rulers. It speaks of personalized realities, where virtually each and every user reports another truth online because of the possible choices they make. in terms of the platforms they use or interact with. You may live next door to someone, and their view of the world, based on what they see online, may be completely different from yours. Even someone who lives in the same space as you, if they consume content whether online, on TV, or even on the radio, is markedly different from yours, which is much less difficult to do now because each and every one of them has explained to themselves that domain names content. online where they know their view of the world and where they can get data from other people they pay attention to.

Leah Feiger: Speaking of other worlds, I’m looking to talk more about the New York-Dublin portal. We will take a short break and then, on our return, we will pass through the portal, a vestige of globalization. attachment. Before we take a break, we should say hello and thank our friends at Amazon Music who named the WIRED Politics Lab as one of this week’s most productive podcasts. Welcome to the new listeners of the program. We’re excited to bring you even more reports and conversations you’re looking for. It’s a pleasure to see him again. A portal has been opened between New York and Dublin. Obviously, this isn’t an actual portal, you can’t move from one place to another, but you can see the cities through a live video screen. While the initial concept of connecting other people across borders, the portal has temporarily become a disaster.

[Archival audio clip]: She was arrested in Dublin on the first day for twerking on the portal. But nothing beats the wild antics of this New York woman. She lifted her blouse and showed stunned onlookers in Ireland.

By José Cox

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Leah Feiger: After being closed for a few days, it reopened this week. David, Amanda Hoover, and you went to both sides of the door to write about this for WIRED. You were on the Dublin side.

David Gilbert: yes, IArray. That’s great. We greeted each other from 3000 miles away.

Léah Feiger: Oh, I love it. Can you describe this for others who haven’t noticed?

David Gilbert: Absolutely. It is a circular installation 3. 4 meters high, as they describe it. In the middle is a circular screen and just above the screen is a camera. There is one in New York, another in Dublin. They are connected in real time so that whoever is in New York can say hello and in Dublin. The idea is that it is this virtual bridge that unites other people. The goal is to deploy them well anywhere in the world. There are already two in Eastern Europe, and I think there are plans for the next one in Brazil. It is this concept of the artist that you need to bring other people together in an exclusive and different way through virtual online connection through social networks.

Leah Feiger: Do we know why New York and Dublin were the two cities chosen?

David Gilbert: They just raised their hands. They saw what was happening in Poland and Lithuania, where the first two portals were connected. They contacted the artist and said, “We need to do something similar. “They discovered local organizations willing to help host the portal and set it up. Finally, earlier this month, the portals finally opened.

Makena Kelly: What organizations exist and who supports them?

David Gilbert: In Dublin, it’s Dublin City Hall and the Tourist Board. It is a position in Dublin that has to do exclusively with tourism. It’s just off O’Connell Street, close to the GPO, which is a very historic building in Ireland where the Irish Freedom Fighters arrived in 1916. New York is a local network organization located in the Flatiron District of New York City. to bring other people together in some way. It’s interesting, given how connected we are in 2024.

Leah Feiger: It closed last week and then reopened. What happened there?

David Gilbert: It opened on May 8 and operated 24/7. I think in New York there was some security, but in Dublin there was no security. At first everything started quite well. Grandmothers and grandchildren may see each other through the door. A woman from Dublin proposed to her boyfriend, who is in New York, and he said yes. It was nice. But soon data spread and videos were shared online that showed, I think, that one of the first disorders was other people in Dublin coming up to the camera, picking up their phones and photographs of 9/11 appearing on social media. net. Telephone (s.

By José Cox

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Leah Feiger: It’s hard.

David Gilbert: Ouais. La reaction from New York, which I found funny as an Irishman, was that they started brandishing potatoes. This disappointed other people. I don’t seem to understand why people are disappointed by it. Then there’s a woman in Dublin who noticed it rubbing against the door and escorted her through the police. Again, it’s nothing that I find extremely horrible, but still. Then, I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was when an OnlyFans influencer from New York went to the New York portal and showed the other people in Dublin.

Leah Feiger: But none of that was your delight when you went to the portal this week, right?

David Gilbert: No. Like I said, they shut it down and put more security. They reopened it five days later. I went there yesterday. I had prepared myself to see many other people behaving badly and inappropriately, etc. It was the opposite. He was just cheerful and happy, and other people were smiling. I’m a pretty cynical user in general, I don’t know if you’ve noticed.

Léah Feiger: Of course not.

David Gilbert: I just found it comforting. It was as if other people were there alone, not necessarily to see anyone in particular. Obviously, there were other people who were there to watch other people express and had agreed to meet. But most people were there simply to greet random strangers on their way to work in New York City.

Leah Feiger: It’s beautiful.

David Gilbert: That’s right. I think Amanda had the same experience in New York. He just thought it was nice. There was nothing unpleasant about that. Even in Dublin, there was a woman who was sought to be separated by the police because she had status right in front and danced. He sang to Eminem and told other people not to use drugs.

Makena Kelly: inspiring.

David Gilbert: But she just dances. One of the ambassadors would not say that he is a security guard, but an ambassador of the Dublin portal. He said that if it is the worst that can happen, what happens?She dances and tries to entertain people.

Leah Feiger: Let’s take that to the rest of the episode. What does all this have to do with politics?What does this tell us about how we talk to each other online or in public spaces like this?

David Gilbert: Well, I think it’s back to what I expected. I spoke to the artist and he told me that the bad habit that closed the doors in the first position was only a small fraction of the general pleasure that other people had in Dublin and New York. The explanation we were interested in it is because that’s what the algorithms were feeding other people. I think it shows how we’ve become so accustomed to excessive criticism because that’s what social media does. Algorithms inform us that we can’t actually see beyond that and see what the truth of things may be. This is potentially worrying, given that our politicians and legislators are doing the same.

By José Cox

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Makena Kelly: I’d love to see the portal or create an Instagram account where you organize all those healthy moments as a destination.

Leah Feiger: Oh, that would be wonderful.

Makena Kelly: I’d love to, it would be an internet post.

David Gilbert: I completely agree with you. I think that would be great, but you would have to look for it intentionally. Trying to localize this type of content is very tricky nowadays because of the way it’s set up those days.

Leah Feiger: Listeners, we’ll be right back with The Conspiracy of the Week. But in the meantime, we’d love to hear how your web reporting has replaced over the past five years. Write to us at Politicslab@ wired. com. Es Politicallab@wired. com.

It’s good to see you again. It’s time for Conspiracy of the Week, where David and Makena will tell me their favorite conspiracies of the week and I’ll vote for the winner. David, what do you have for us?

David Gilbert: It’s a kind of recovery plot from a few years ago that you’ve probably heard of, but it’s been revived recently. I don’t know if you don’t forget a term called luciferase. This is anything that was circulating in the Covid pandemic. It is an enzyme that was used in some tests before the creation of Covid vaccines. It was not in any of the Covid vaccines. But that didn’t stop conspiracy theorists at the time from claiming that vaccines provided luciferase. themselves. Obviously, because it’s called Luciferase, it implies that it has something to do with Satan, Satanism, or Satanic cults.

Leah Feiger: yes, it’s really bad here.

David Gilbert: yes, yes. There’s 6. 66 CC of anything in it, obviously.

Léa Feiger: Absolutely.

David Gilbert: I think at the time one of the big messages was that you couldn’t invent these things, but obviously you can. That happened, maybe it was 2021, 2022. It disappeared for a while. But it’s back. At a convention, a conspiracy convention recently. . . Christiane Northrup is her name. She once she was a well known new age fitness guru doctor. I think she was on Oprah. She was quite conventional. She temporarily resorted to conspiracy about the Covid vaccine. At a recent convention, she said that “luciferase is now fully activated. ” Anyone who has won an mRNA vaccine now has their own tracking device. She said that “when you go through an airport, they can track you through the machines you go through security because this luciferase has been activated in your blood. »I don’t know why they think she activated herself. Now, however, this is essentially the case: the passing government, Bill Gates and all the other members of the elite cabal that controls the world, can track you around the world if you received an mRNA vaccine in the last few years.

By José Cox

By Matt Burgess

By Mara Eakin

Lea Feiger: Okay. Well, it turns out that the week has been pretty heavy. Makena, what do you have?

Makena Kelly: Mine rarely weighs that much. I’m sure you all heard this week that Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy.

Léa Feiger: Oh no! A plot through Red Lobster?I missed it.

Makena Kelly: Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily a conspiracy. That’s true, but I think this one is real. I do. Last year, of course, Red Lobster introduced its Endless Shrimp product. People say that, and I think it makes sense, that it was Endless Shrimp that brought the company down and that’s why it went bankrupt. A little more, Red Lobster was recently acquired through a personal equity corporation that purchased the land under Red Lobster and then began releasing it for all restaurants. Everything has become much more expensive for them. In the end, I think that’s probably more of the explanation for why Red Lobster is now bankrupt rather than Endless Shrimp.

Leah Feiger: Oh, man. I’ve never been worried about Endless Shrimp and felt a hint of FOMO the moment it was released. Very, very sad. Okay, I enjoyed the intricacies of David’s plots and I still need to communicate about Red Lobster, so I think I’ll have to claim a draw this week. No one wins, but thank you so much for being with us this week.

David Gilbert: You’re welcome. It’s fun.

Makena Kelly: yes. Goodbye!

Leah Feiger: Thank you for listening to WIRED Politics Lab. Si you like what you’ve heard, be sure to follow and rate it on the podcast app of your choice. We also have a newsletter that Makena writes weekly. The link to the WIRED newsletter and report we reviewed can be found in the program notes. If you would like to contact us with any questions, comments, or advice for a program, please write to Politicslab@wired. com. That’s Politicallab@wired. com. We’re excited to hear from you. WIRED Politics Lab is produced by Jake Harper. Jake Lummus is our studio engineer. Greg Obis of Macro Sound combined this episode. Stephanie Kariuki is our executive producer. Jordan Bell is the progression EP and Chris Bannon is Condé Nast’s global head of audio. I’m your host, Leah Feiger. We’ll be back in your feeds with a new episode next week.

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