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Hey everybody, welcome back to 
the Elon Musk Podcast. 

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This is a show where we discuss 
the critical Crossroads, the 

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Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The 
Boring Company, and Neuralink. 

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I'm your host Will Walden X, the
social media platform previously

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known as Twitter experience a 
pretty large outage on Thursday 

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morning. 
This marked the most severe 

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disruption since Elon Musk's 
acquisition of the platform in 

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October of 2022. 
Now this incident, which 

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affected over 90,000 users 
globally, coincided with a spike

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in interest for Meta's Threads 
app. 

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Users started reporting issues 
on X between 12:00 AM and 3:00 

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AM Eastern on Thursday. 
The problems were primarily 

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encountered on the app, 
affecting approximately 70% of 

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the reports. 
A Users worldwide face 

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difficulties accessing the 
platform, making this the 

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largest outage since Musk's 
takeover. 

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Concurrently with the X outage, 
there was a notable rise in 

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Google searches for Threads in 
the United States. 

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Now Threads, another social 
media app made by Meta, gained 

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attention as a stable 
alternative amidst X service 

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interruption, continue its trend
to acquire users from X. 

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And before this outage, X had 
been actively rolling out new 

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features, including job postings
and the AI chatbot Grok. 

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However, these innovations have 
not stemmed the user migration 

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to Threads, which has been 
expanding its user base rapidly,

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reaching significant milestone 
in just a few months. 

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Now, the platform under Musk's 
leadership operates with a 

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significantly reduced workforce 
and the current staff count 

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stands at approximately 2000 
people, which is a stark 

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reduction from the 7000 
employees before Musk's 

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acquisition as reported by 
TechCrunch. 

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Now, the reason behind the 
outage remains unclear and X had

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recently undergone an update, 
but is not confirmed whether the

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update was related to the 
service disruption. 

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The lack of clarity adds to the 
concerns surrounding the 

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platform stability. 
Now, more than 94,000 users have

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reported issues at the peak of 
the outage, according to Down 

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Detector, and there's probably 
more people that were affected 

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and the reports gradually 
decreased over time. 

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But the global impact was 
significant, with net blocks 

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confirming A substantial 
international outage. 

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And during the outage, certain 
features of X remained 

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operational. 
Users could post, although these

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posts were not visible after 
refreshing. 

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Additionally, a space hosted by 
a New York Times reporter 

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attracted over 800 participants 
discussing the outage in real 

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time. 
Now, the official response from 

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X regarding the outage was 
limited. 

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Automated messages from the 
platform's PR account provided 

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no substantial information, 
leaving users and those 

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dependent on the platform 
services in the dark. 

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And the incident is not the 
first outage under Musk. 

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There have been several 
interruptions since late of 

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2022, with another major outage 
occurring in July, affecting 

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about 50,000 users. 
The recurring outages are A 

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cause for concern among the user
base now. 

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According to Down Detector, over
47,000 users in the US also 

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faced access issues. 
The outage was also noticeable 

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among users in the UK and Asia, 
indicating its wide reaching 

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effects. 
Now the hashtag Twitter Down 

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quickly trended following 
reports of the outage, 

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highlighting the platform's 
significant user engagement 

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despite the service 
interruptions. 

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The outage lasted for just over 
an hour, after which users 

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regained access to the platform,
and the swift recovery was a 

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relief to many. 
But it also raised questions 

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about the platform's operational
stability and preparedness for 

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future incidents. 
And since Musk's acquisition of 

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X, formerly known as Twitter, 
the platform has faced A 

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noticeable decline in 
advertising revenue. 

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The decrease is a significant 
concern for the social media 

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giant, which historically relied
heavily on ad revenues as its 

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primary income source. 
And the recent outage, which 

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affected just about 100,000 
people, 90,000 plus people, 

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exacerbates these financial 
woes. 

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Advertisers typically seek 
stability in a broad reach in 

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platforms they invest in. 
Recurrent outages, such as the 

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one experienced recently 
undermine advertiser confidence,

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leading to a reluctance to place
ads on a platform that may not 

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be reliably accessible to its 
audience. 

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Now. 
This drop in advertiser interest

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in spending could have a lasting
edit this out now. 

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This drop in advertising 
interest in spending could have 

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a lasting impact on X's revenue 
streams, especially in a 

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competitive social media market 
where advertisers have numerous 

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alternatives. 
Now, beyond immediate financial 

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implications, repeated technical
issues and outages under Musk's 

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tenure could erode user trust 
and negatively affect X's brand 

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image. 
Users and advertisers alike look

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for consistency and reliability 
in social media platforms, and 

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frequent disruptions can lead to
a decline in user engagement and

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loyalty. 
This aspect is crucial that 

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social media platforms thrive on
active user engagement. 

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Now a decline in user trust can 
create ripple effect leading not

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only to reduced advertising 
revenue but also to a potential 

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drop in user base. 
This scenario is particularly 

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challenging for X as it competes
with other platforms like Metas 

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Threads which has capitalized on
being a stable alternative. 

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Now maintaining user trust is 
essential for X to ensure its 

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long term viability and market 
competitiveness. 

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And looking at the long term 
financial outlook for X, the 

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combination of declining ad 
revenue, potential, loss of user

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base and operational challenges 
presents a complex scenario. 

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X may need to explore new 
revenue models to diversify its 

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income sources. 
This could involve the 

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introduction of innovative 
features, enhanced subscription 

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services or tapping into new 
market segments. 

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Moreover, addressing technical 
stability issues is paramount to

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regain advertiser confidence. 
The strategic decisions made by 

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Musk and the X leadership in the
coming months will be critical 

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in determining the platform's 
financial health, its position 

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in the social media market. 
Now The recent outage at X 

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raises important questions about
the platform's technical 

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robustness in the strategic 
direction under Musk as users 

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continue to seek stable 
alternatives like threads. 

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The future of X remains closely 
watched by us on this podcast, 

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so please stay tuned For more 
information. 

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Hey, thank you so much for 
listening today. 

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I really do appreciate your 
support. 

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If you could take a second and 
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on right now, I greatly 
appreciate it. 

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It helps out the show 
tremendously and you'll never 

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miss an episode and each episode
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please take care of yourselves 
and each other and I'll see you 

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tomorrow.
