Elon and his Muskovites

Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we examine billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk move to acquire social media giant Twitter and the broader picture of billionaire influence over our news media and free speech. But first a rant or three, as Zak highlights the passage of a Connecticut bill aimed to protect abortion rights for recipients and providers against out-of-state legal backlash from the many other far more restrictive states; Ed spotlights the fallout from the watershed Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano unification bout from last weekend and the promising future of headline female prize-fighting; and finally Andrew decries the decision of the All England Club to ban competitors from Russia and Belarus amidst the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. This leads us to Musk, and his many peers among the billionaire class: Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos most notably, that control both news and social media as we know it. How we use and interact with Twitter, what to expect under Musk’s control and whether or not we continue to engage the platform going forward comprise the bulk of this conversation. But to comprehend and begin to understand Musk’s ascension to a controlling interest in Twitter, means also considering Zuckerberg and Facebook; Jeff Bezos’ ownership of the Washington Post, Peter Thiel’s funding of the destruction of independent Gawker Media, Sheldon Adleson, Ru0ert Murdoch, et al. What does free speech look like in the media: broadcast, news and social alike, when that speech is controlled by the world’s richest men? Your panel seeks seeks an answer to that question and others this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.