Wikipedia

Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter

Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter is a 2024 book written by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. It covers the controversial takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk.[1] [2][3][4] Character Limit was published on September 17, 2024, by Penguin Press.

Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
AuthorsKate Conger
Ryan Mac
Subject
GenreNon-fiction
PublishedSeptember 17, 2024
PublisherPenguin Press
Pages480
ISBN978-0593656136 (Hardcover)
OCLC1432234243

Premise

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Character Limit chronicles the rise and fall of Twitter after Elon Musk's tumultuous $44-billion-dollar acquisition. The book showcases Musk's volatility, highlighting the actions that led to the company's drastic devaluation and the resurgence of unmoderated hate-speech, misinformation, and white nationalism on the platform.[5][6]

Conger and Mac detail the night Musk's Twitter acquisition was formalized in at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. Twitter's San Francisco headquarters are two different buildings: a large building and a small building behind it which are connected via a bridge. On the night of October 26, 2022, there were "two separate worlds playing out on either side of the bridge" with Musk signing the acquisition documents with executives in the smaller building while Twitter employees in the larger building were crying at potentially losing their job.[7] Another detail in the book is how Musk had cut Twitter's janitorial staff, forcing Twitter employees to bring their own toilet paper to work.[8][7]

Reception

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Prior to its release, Character Limit was listed as one of Literary Hub's most anticipated books of 2024.[9]

Kirkus Reviews praised the book as an "engrossing, precise account of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter (now X). A compelling fusion of business history and worrisome social narrative".[1]

James Ball of The Guardian, in a positive review, wrote that Conger and Mac have the "astonishing ability to take the reader into almost every room that mattered during the contentious $44bn acquisition".[4]

Zack Ruskin of The Washington Post called Character Limit "riveting" and writes the book "offers a treasure trove of answers regarding Elon Musk's somewhat shadowy acquisition of the company, both in terms of the financials and his motivation." Ruskin said the book serves as a "telling lesson in the cost of getting everything you want".[5]

Despite Conger and Mac reaching out with over 500 questions before the publication of Character Limit, Musk did not respond.[10] His only response to the book was a retweet to a photo of Character Limit to which he replied with two laughing emojis.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Character Limit How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter". Kirkus Reviews. August 22, 2024. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  2. ^ "How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter: Fresh Air". NPR. September 11, 2024. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  3. ^ Miller, Stuart (September 13, 2024). "'How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter' authors say platform is 'a tool for controlling political discourse'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Ball, James (September 18, 2024). "Character Limit by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac review – Musk's Twitter takeover". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 22, 2024. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Ruskin, Zack (September 20, 2024). "The inside story of Elon Musk's Twitter takeover". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  6. ^ Vanlan, Jonathan (September 13, 2024). "Tech Elon Musk's X sued this nonprofit after it exposed hate speech, and its new research shows little has changed". CNBC. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Dreibelbis Forlini, Emily (September 17, 2024). "2 Years Later: 'Character Limit' Pulls Back the Curtain on Musk's Twitter Takeover". PCMag. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  8. ^ Marcelline, Marco (December 30, 2022). "Twitter Closes Sacramento Data Center, Seattle Office, Cuts Janitorial Staff". PCMag. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  9. ^ Temple, Emily (July 10, 2024). "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2024, Part Two". Literary Hub. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  10. ^ "Elon Musk's X is a financial 'disaster,' co-authors of new book 'Character Limit' say". CNBC. September 17, 2024. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  11. ^ Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (September 23, 2024). "🤣🤣" (Tweet). Retrieved November 14, 2024 – via Twitter.
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