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00:01Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:29Welcome, welcome, welcome to Last Week Tonight.
00:31I'm John Oliver. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:34It has been a busy week.
00:36The Supreme Court struck down Trump's tariffs
00:38and he met with his board of peace shortly before
00:41going back to pushing the U.S. toward war with Iran.
00:44But we're actually going to start in the U.K. this week
00:46where Thursday brought some massive news.
00:49This morning, a stunning royal arrest.
00:51Former Prince Andrew taken into custody
00:53from his home in the English countryside.
00:55It follows growing revelations about the alleged connections
00:58between the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew.
01:02It's true, they arrested former Prince Andrew.
01:04And I don't know why they're still going with alleged connections
01:07to Epstein there, while also running a photo
01:10that makes them look like the two closest friends
01:12I have ever seen.
01:14It looks like they're brainstorming a new podcast.
01:16It looks like Andrew's soft launching.
01:18Hey, would it be crazy if we moved in together?
01:21I'm just saying, maybe drop the alleged part
01:23when you're dealing with two guys that look so close
01:26they could finish each other's prison sentences.
01:28And if you're thinking, well, what was the new revelation
01:30that did it? Was it the grotesque new photo
01:33of Andrew on all fours over a young woman?
01:35Incredibly, no.
01:36It was apparently this.
01:37The arrest reportedly linked to emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice
01:41as part of the Epstein files that show Andrew forwarding emails
01:45to Epstein while he was trade envoy.
01:47The emails, some dated in 2010, well after Epstein had already been convicted
01:52of soliciting sex from a minor, show Andrew forwarding
01:55British government files from his trips to places like Hong Kong
01:58and Vietnam.
01:59Yeah, they got him on forwarding documents, which is a little underwhelming.
02:03Though, to be honest, when it comes to bringing down monsters,
02:06I don't really care if it's for a boring computer crime.
02:09The same way I'm not that mad if what finally ends
02:11a toddler throwing a tantrum is a cardboard box.
02:14The method doesn't matter.
02:16What's important is, you have been stopped.
02:18Now, Andrew has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing
02:22and has been released, although that does not mean
02:24he's been found not guilty.
02:26All we really have to go on right now
02:28is this fantastic picture of him leaving custody.
02:31And you can draw your own conclusions there.
02:33Reasonable people can disagree on whether this makes him look guilty
02:36or dead.
02:38And I've got to say, even him being taken into custody this week
02:43must have been gratifying for some,
02:45including anyone who's ever had to work for him.
02:47Because to hear at least one former officer
02:49who was assigned to guard Andrew,
02:50he wasn't the greatest to be around.
02:53Did Prince Andrew have a nickname at that time?
02:56Well, his official code,
02:58so if he was to come into the palace,
03:00he would call us, call someone as Purple 4-1.
03:02But he did have a nickname,
03:04but it's a bit rude for me to tell you,
03:05and I'll tell you.
03:07But you're not going to be able to air it.
03:10It was just called, do you want me to tell you?
03:11Yeah.
03:13It was called the cunt.
03:15Yeah.
03:19According to that guy,
03:21that was Andrew's unofficial nickname.
03:23And it's a little weird he was so wary of saying that word on TV,
03:26given he was appearing on Australia's 60 Minutes.
03:29And Australians say cunt all the time.
03:31I'm pretty sure Bluey's said it at least three times.
03:34But it's not just codenamed cunt here facing consequences.
03:38Take Peter Mandelson, the UK's former ambassador to DC.
03:41He's also under police investigation for forwarding government emails to Epstein,
03:44something he's denied.
03:45And there are also questions about how close they were,
03:48especially given the sheer number of photos of them together,
03:51including this recently released one of him in his underwear,
03:54seemingly in Epstein's apartment.
03:56And the very fact Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson ambassador in the first place is now a major scandal.
04:02His chief of staff and communications director have resigned, and it may not stop there.
04:06The fallout is now directly threatening the Prime Minister.
04:10Prime Minister?
04:11Keir Starmer has admitted to Parliament he knew of Mandelson's past association with Epstein,
04:16but that he had not been told the truth about the extent of the relationship.
04:21The admission has sparked a furious backlash,
04:23including from members of Starmer's own party,
04:26who are openly questioning his judgment and his leadership.
04:29Right, because that shows terrible judgment.
04:33A crucial part of leadership is who you pick to be on your team.
04:37If the Raiders decided at this year's NFL draft to use their number one pick to select Roman Polanski,
04:44everyone involved in that decision should probably be fired.
04:47But here in the U.S., there's been a notable lack of consequences
04:50for several high-profile figures who've appeared in the files.
04:53Most notably, this guy is still president,
04:55but also his comasectory Howard Lutnick, Epstein's former next-door neighbor, by the way,
05:01has come under scrutiny, because he previously said he met Epstein only once in 2005,
05:05and was so revolted, he declared,
05:06I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.
05:11But new documents reveal not only were they in touch after that,
05:14Lutnick actually visited Epstein's island, something he tried to justify like this.
05:19I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation.
05:24My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies.
05:30We were on family vacation.
05:31We were not apart.
05:32To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012,
05:37I don't recall why we did it, but...
05:40Mr. Sec...
05:42Okay, to be clear, there was a lot untoward about meeting Epstein in 2012.
05:46He'd left jail three years earlier as a sex offender,
05:49and it was widely known what kind of guy he was at that time,
05:52and it's not a great look,
05:53but it seems the end of Lutnick's sentence,
05:55I will never be in a room with that disgusting person again,
05:58was apparently, unless, that is, I can bring my kids.
06:01But Lutnick is still in his job,
06:04as, by the way, is Peter Atiyah,
06:06who CBS News had only just hired as part of their new roster of contributors
06:09when the files were released,
06:11and the details about him in there are great.
06:14The celebrity longevity influencer
06:16appears in the files more than 1,700 times.
06:20In 2015, Atiyah wrote,
06:28Oh, and that is not close to the worst of it,
06:31because Atiyah also apparently wrote to Epstein's assistant,
06:34saying, I go into JE withdrawal when I don't see him,
06:37and wrote to Epstein directly, saying that, and I quote,
06:47Now, Atiyah's apologized for those emails,
06:49and has stepped down as chief science officer
06:51of the protein bar company David following these revelations.
06:54But incredibly, as of taping,
06:57CBS News still seems to be keeping him on as a contributor.
07:01And it is wild that CBS News somehow has lower standards
07:06than a protein bar company
07:08that markets their products like this,
07:10and also like this.
07:12And I'm not sure who at that company
07:14thought their bars needed to be 80s horny,
07:17but I hope they're gone too.
07:18And look, I'm not saying Atiyah or Lutnik have committed crimes,
07:22but it is clear just how comfortable far too many people were
07:26looking past Epstein's heinous actions.
07:29And given the lack of accountability in all this,
07:31there's at least some satisfaction
07:33in knowing just how nervous some powerful men must be feeling right now.
07:37A nervousness that's kind of hard to put into words,
07:39but luckily, I think this picture sums it up pretty well.
07:44And now, this.
07:46And now, people on TV celebrate National Drink Wine Day.
07:51Today is National Drink Wine Day.
07:56It is recommended, friends, to drink in moderation.
07:59So, one glass that's this big.
08:02It's Ash Wednesday.
08:04I'm Catholic.
08:05They serve wine at Mass.
08:06Because of Lent, make sure you eat fish today.
08:09So, E.P. Micah hooked me up.
08:11I don't really know if this is a hookup, guys,
08:13but he hooked me up with some fish sticks
08:15and some generic wines.
08:16It is Ash Wednesday.
08:17I think this is interesting
08:19that it coincides with National Drink Wine Day.
08:22Kind of is, isn't it?
08:24Is it?
08:24Yeah.
08:25This is nice rosé for the day.
08:27How is it?
08:28It's very good.
08:29It's good.
08:30National Wine Day.
08:31Ooh, it is good.
08:31Tastes different at 6.45.
08:33Ooh.
08:36Moving on.
08:37Our main story tonight concerns Twitter,
08:39or as it's been called since Elon Musk purchased it a few years ago,
08:43Twitter.
08:44It's a site with exactly one good account left.
08:47Gerald Stratford, a retired British man
08:49who delights followers with his giant vegetables.
08:51I've just cut this big cabbage.
08:56It's a PB for me.
08:57I haven't got any scales big enough to weigh it,
09:01but I'm not worried about that.
09:03It's a beautiful specimen.
09:05Yeah, it is, Gerald.
09:07And I, for one, am glad that you cut that cabbage.
09:09To be honest, I haven't been this jazzed
09:11to see a cabbage broken in half since my wedding night.
09:15Twitter has clearly changed significantly in recent years.
09:19And you can pinpoint the moment that started,
09:20because it's the day in October 2022,
09:23when Elon tweeted a video of himself
09:24carrying a sink into Twitter headquarters,
09:27writing,
09:27let that sink in.
09:29A joke so funny,
09:30I'm still laughing right now.
09:33And he quickly made it clear
09:35that the company was going to be different.
09:36He changed Twitter's name to X,
09:37announced an extremely hardcore cultural reset,
09:40and by his count,
09:40said he cut about 80% of Twitter's staff.
09:43And to hear Elon tell it,
09:44he did this to protect free speech,
09:46and correct for what many conservatives
09:48considered a left-wing bias.
09:49In fact, as far as he was concerned,
09:51nothing less than the fate of the world was at stake.
09:54The reason for acquiring Twitter
09:56is because, um,
09:57it was...
09:59It was...
09:59It was causing destruction
10:01at a civilizational level.
10:02You know, like Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings,
10:05where he would just sort of,
10:07like, whisper these,
10:09you know, terrible things to the king,
10:11so the king would believe these things
10:12that weren't true.
10:13And they were pushing, uh,
10:16a nihilistic, anti-civilizational
10:18Mayan virus to the world.
10:19OK.
10:20For the record,
10:22Twitter's not a good analogue for Wormtongue at all,
10:24and I'm guessing I don't need to explain why,
10:26given the Venn diagram between viewers of this show
10:28and people familiar with second-tier
10:30Lord of the Rings characters
10:31is, I'm pretty sure,
10:32a single circle,
10:34as round, in fact,
10:36as the outermost wall of Minas Tirith.
10:40But what Elon's embrace of so-called free speech
10:44has actually resulted in is much darker.
10:46One study found an approximately 50% increase
10:48in posts containing hate speech,
10:50and recently you may have heard
10:51about the platform's struggles
10:52with Grok's image editing tool,
10:54which has allowed users to create
10:55digitally-altered sexualized photos
10:57of real people, including minors.
10:59And look, no one is saying
11:01Twitter was perfect before Elon arrived.
11:04It helped platform a lot of ugliness,
11:06including, but not limited to,
11:08our first shit poster president.
11:10But it is genuinely worse now.
11:13And you might think
11:14you already know how bad it is,
11:16or that it doesn't matter to you
11:17because you're no longer on it,
11:18but I promise, it's actually worse than you think,
11:21for reasons you may not know,
11:22and in ways that will, unfortunately,
11:24impact all of us.
11:25So, given that, tonight, let's talk about Twitter.
11:28Let's start with some of the most visible changes
11:30Elon's made.
11:31One of his first involved the site's verification system,
11:34which used to assign a blue checkmark
11:35to anyone well-known enough
11:37that they might need an official sign
11:39that they were who they said they were.
11:41Elon replaced that with a system
11:42where anyone can get a blue check
11:43if they simply became a premium user
11:45who paid $8 a month.
11:47And that led to instant, albeit very funny, chaos.
11:51All of a sudden,
11:52scrollers saw LeBron James asking for a trade,
11:56oil company British Petroleum
11:58admitting it killed the planet,
12:01and drug manufacturer Eli Lilly
12:03offering insulin for free.
12:07It's true.
12:07Fake accounts sprung up all over the place.
12:10Fake George Bush said he missed killing Iraqis,
12:13to which Fake Tony Blair said,
12:15same T.B.H.
12:17Fake O.J. Simpson said,
12:18not gonna lie, I did that shit.
12:20And a fake American Girl doll account said,
12:23Felicity owned slaves,
12:24continuing,
12:25I'm not even lying, look it up.
12:28Now, Elon eventually added new grey and gold checkmarks
12:32to help verify some official accounts.
12:34And while I'm not sure exactly which fake tweet
12:36made him do that, if I had to guess,
12:37it'd be this one from a fake Tesla account that said,
12:40our cars do not respect school's own speed limits,
12:43fuck them kids.
12:44So, already,
12:46the site was much less reliable
12:48because it was harder to tell who was trustworthy.
12:50But on top of that,
12:52Elon took an axe to the site's ability
12:54to deal with harmful content by,
12:56among other things,
12:56slashing its global trust and safety staff,
12:59including reducing its full-time content moderators
13:01by over 50%.
13:02He also started restoring a lot of accounts
13:05that had been banned for violating the platform's policies
13:07on things like abusive behavior and inciting violence.
13:10He memorably brought back this guy,
13:12as well as Alex Jones,
13:13Andrew Tate,
13:14Nick Fuentes,
13:15and UK anti-immigrant crusader Tommy Robertson,
13:17which I believe is known as a nightmare anything rotation.
13:21And that was just the beginning.
13:23Twitter accounts belonging to far-right activists
13:25and QAnon theorists
13:27have been reinstated,
13:29according to data reviewed by NBC News.
13:31Hundreds of formerly banned users
13:33now back on the platform
13:34after Musk's Thanksgiving tweet
13:36that amnesty begins next week.
13:38Yeah, he basically reinstated a bunch of accounts,
13:41including white supremacists,
13:42and announced it on Thanksgiving,
13:45which, when you think about it,
13:45is actually pretty thematically appropriate
13:47for the holiday.
13:48And when you take all of that together,
13:50it is no wonder
13:51the site became a fertile breeding ground
13:53for hatred and misinformation.
13:55And much less reliable
13:57when it came to tracking breaking news.
13:59One of the first clear signs of that
14:01came in the wake of the October 7th attacks in Israel.
14:03Previously, at a moment like that,
14:05people might look to Twitter
14:06for information from journalists
14:07and other credible people on the scene.
14:09But a tonne of misinformation circulated there,
14:13often from accounts boasting misleading blue checks.
14:16This video of a grieving boy supposedly from Gaza
14:18went viral, even though it was from at least
14:20nine years earlier and was taken in Syria.
14:23And this clip supposedly of Israeli rockets exploding
14:25was actually from a military simulation video game.
14:28The account that posted that, by the way,
14:29conveniently titled Israel Massad,
14:31had gone from fewer than 1,000 followers
14:33when it first acquired a blue check in September 2023
14:36to more than 230,000.
14:39And that wasn't the only big change,
14:40because Twitter also started paying
14:42so-called creators on the site.
14:45Currently, if you're a premium user,
14:47meaning you pay for a blue check,
14:48you can get paid for your posts
14:50and your revenue is dependent
14:51on how many other premium users
14:53reply to, repost, and like your content.
14:56And that has served some users pretty well,
14:59like this guy who posted as Freedom Uncut online
15:02and was on Twitter a lot.
15:03He says he spends up to 16 hours a day on X,
15:07sharing AI-generated pictures like these and streaming.
15:11While some of these posts are obviously satirical,
15:13others are less fantastical.
15:15It's the more provocative content
15:17that gets views, he tells me.
15:18It's kind of interesting because the balance
15:23between free speech and saying stuff that you know
15:27is either untrue or you just say it
15:31in a very brash way to egg people on
15:35is an interesting era that we're in.
15:39I know people that are making the pay periods
15:41every two weeks,
15:43and I know people that are in the 1,000-plus range.
15:47Look, it is not the most important thing there,
15:50but it is genuinely incredible to me
15:52that people can make money
15:53posting Matrix memes of Trump
15:55that read, I can dodge bullets,
15:57not least because, that's something.
15:59And not to be a fact bitch here,
16:01Trump didn't entirely do.
16:03If we're just going to be sticklers about it.
16:08And look, over $1,000 every two weeks
16:12is clearly a good payday just for posting,
16:15usually to make that kind of money online.
16:16You need to be running a crypto scam
16:18or selling feet pics,
16:20and that's, even that is only realistic
16:21for those of us who happen to be born
16:23with irresistible feet.
16:24I would show you,
16:25but honey, I don't do that for free.
16:29And some accounts,
16:30particularly on the far right,
16:32have even made more,
16:33like the anonymous End Wokeness,
16:35which once tweeted,
16:36wow, Elon Musk wasn't kidding,
16:38content monetization is real,
16:39with a screenshot showing earnings
16:40of over $10,000.
16:43Now, I should say,
16:43most accounts don't make that much,
16:46but even relatively small amounts
16:47can be an incentive
16:48if, say,
16:49you live in another country
16:50where the cost of living is lower.
16:52And that may help explain
16:53the somewhat awkward revelations
16:55that came last year
16:56when Twitter suddenly
16:57allowed people to see accounts
16:58location information.
17:00The ex-account,
17:02MAGA Nation,
17:02with nearly 400,000 followers,
17:05boasts itself as standing strong
17:07with President Trump
17:08and America First,
17:09with post after post backing Trump.
17:11But one click shows
17:13it's based in Eastern Europe.
17:14Even President Trump himself
17:16reposting several accounts
17:17that are not from the United States
17:19on his Truth Social platform.
17:21Like this account,
17:22called Commentary Donald Trump,
17:24posting about whether
17:25foreign-born citizens
17:26should be barred
17:26from running for office.
17:28The account itself,
17:29based in Africa.
17:30Yeah, and that is not all.
17:32An account called
17:33Ultra MAGA Trump 2028,
17:35claiming to be based in D.C.,
17:36was also listed as being in Africa.
17:38The account MAGA Nadine
17:39was based in Morocco.
17:41And the user At American
17:42was based in Pakistan.
17:44Which is pretty surprising.
17:46Finding out an account
17:47called At American
17:47is based outside the U.S.
17:49is kind of like finding out
17:50that the person who runs
17:51DuMois is David Attenborough.
17:53I mean, sure, it's not illegal,
17:56and I guess maybe the passion
17:57could be real,
17:58but it certainly changes
17:58how I think about things.
18:01The point is,
18:02there is an ecosystem of people,
18:04both here and abroad,
18:05who've discovered
18:06you can make money
18:07off of pissed Americans
18:08staring at their phones.
18:10And to be clear,
18:11none of the changes
18:11I've mentioned so far
18:12involved secret tweaks
18:14to Twitter's algorithm.
18:15They just involved
18:16changing who could post
18:18and what their incentives were.
18:20As for what's happened
18:21behind the scenes,
18:23that is harder to say,
18:24though some who've run
18:25experiments on the site
18:26have made some troubling discoveries.
18:28Last year, Sky News created
18:29a number of accounts
18:30emulating British Twitter users.
18:32Three were left-wing users,
18:33three were right-wing,
18:34and three were neutral,
18:35designed to show
18:36no interest in politics.
18:37And when they tracked the content
18:39each was pushed
18:40by Twitter's algorithm,
18:41their findings were striking.
18:42The result was that
18:44every account,
18:45no matter their political orientation,
18:47was fed a glut
18:48of right-wing content.
18:50Remember our left-wing users?
18:51This shows what they saw
18:53on the platform,
18:53and more than 40%
18:55came from right-wing accounts.
18:57Compare that
18:58to our right-wing users.
18:59And look,
19:00they saw much less
19:01left-wing content,
19:02and a lot of right-wing content.
19:05And then the neutral users,
19:07who we designed not to show
19:08any interest in politics.
19:09They saw twice as much
19:11right-wing content in the pink here,
19:13than they did left-wing in yellow.
19:15And that clearly suggests
19:17that something is up,
19:18even if we don't know
19:19the exact algorithm changes
19:20that were made.
19:21It's like when a Redditor
19:22found that statistically,
19:24James Harden's poor performance
19:25during away games
19:26correlates with them happening
19:28in cities
19:28with highly rated strip clubs.
19:30Now,
19:30can we make concrete statements
19:33about causality there?
19:34Of course we can't,
19:35but the data
19:35is making some loud suggestions.
19:38Now,
19:39I have to say,
19:40X has announced
19:41a new update
19:42to Twitter's algorithm,
19:43which they've dubbed
19:43as purely AI-led.
19:45Although,
19:46given Elon has a history
19:47of trying to make
19:47his AI chatbot Grok
19:48less woke,
19:49leading to it at one point
19:50calling itself
19:51Mecha-Hitler,
19:52I'm not sure
19:54how reassuring that is.
19:55Also,
19:56Elon's definitely
19:57shown a willingness
19:58to tweak Twitter's algorithm
20:00to drive
20:00certain kinds of content,
20:02and sometimes
20:02for truly embarrassing reasons.
20:05There's a notorious incident
20:06involving him
20:07going to the Super Bowl
20:08in 2023
20:09and having a problem
20:10with one of his tweets,
20:11and I'll let this reporter
20:12fill you in.
20:13He tweets out
20:14basically his support
20:15for the Philadelphia Eagles.
20:17I think his tweet
20:17was something like
20:18Go Eagles
20:18with a few American flags on it.
20:22Biden,
20:22around the same time,
20:23posts a somewhat
20:24similar tweet.
20:26Fly, Eagles, fly,
20:28and it's a video
20:29of his wife, Jill Biden,
20:30who's walking
20:31with an Eagles jersey on.
20:33The game goes on.
20:34Elon Musk checks his phone.
20:36Weird.
20:37It looks like Joe Biden,
20:38who he's called
20:39a damp sock puppet
20:41in human form,
20:42is doing much better
20:43than he is
20:44in terms of engagement
20:45on this very similar tweet.
20:47At 2.36 a.m.,
20:49she says an urgent message
20:50went out,
20:51and roughly 80 engineers
20:52were pulled into work.
20:54And they're tasked
20:55with fixing the issues
20:58with the algorithm.
21:00That's true.
21:02Elon's tweets
21:02got less engagement
21:03than Biden's did,
21:04so 80 engineers
21:05were called in
21:06at 2 in the morning
21:07and told,
21:07this is high urgency.
21:09And of course,
21:10his tweet flopped.
21:11It was terrible.
21:12First,
21:12don't use American flags
21:14when eagle emojis exist,
21:15but also,
21:16Eagles?
21:16Why call them
21:17by their government name?
21:19Just post,
21:19go birds,
21:20eagle emojis,
21:21Jalen Hurts
21:22can give me a tush push
21:22any day,
21:23and he'd have cracked
21:24a million likes instantly.
21:26Now,
21:27reporters later learned
21:28that after Musk threatened
21:29to fire his remaining engineers,
21:31they built a system
21:31designed to ensure
21:32that he,
21:32and he alone,
21:33benefited from previously
21:35unheard of promotion
21:36of his tweets
21:36to the entire user base,
21:38which seems to be happening.
21:40As basically,
21:42whatever Elon's tweeting about,
21:43people will see it
21:44in their feeds.
21:45When Fortune conducted
21:46an experiment to gauge
21:47how prevalent Musk was
21:48on Twitter,
21:49they set up a dozen
21:50different test accounts,
21:51and in approximately 90%
21:52of the sessions they conducted,
21:54a post from Musk
21:55appeared at least once
21:57in the timeline,
21:58usually much more often.
21:59And even clicking
22:00not interested in Elon Musk
22:02didn't change things.
22:03In fact,
22:03after one test account
22:05clicked exactly that,
22:06posts from him
22:07more than doubled.
22:09At this point,
22:10it seems like there's
22:10only one option
22:11if you never want to hear
22:12anything from Elon Musk,
22:14and that's to be
22:14his coolest child.
22:17And Twitter thumbing the scale
22:19toward Elon's interest
22:20is bad for multiple reasons,
22:22not limited to
22:22his god-awful jokes,
22:24his history of evoking
22:25extreme ideas
22:25like the anti-Semitic
22:26Great Replacement Theory,
22:27and the fact
22:28he was apparently
22:29a driver of U.S. election
22:30misinformation in 2024.
22:31But perhaps
22:32the biggest cause for concern
22:35is the fact
22:35that our current government
22:37is troublingly dependent
22:38on Elon's platform.
22:40The Trump administration
22:40is painfully online,
22:43and particularly on Twitter.
22:44JD Vance has said
22:45that he's a grok guy.
22:47Kash Patel's repeatedly
22:48fumbled FBI investigations
22:50by prematurely announcing
22:51suspects on Twitter.
22:52And this photo
22:53of the makeshift situation room
22:55during the U.S. military
22:56operation in Venezuela
22:57showed a Twitter feed
22:58with Venezuela
22:59in the search bar.
23:02And I'm not sure
23:03anything can inspire
23:04less confidence than that
23:05other than the Google results
23:07for who is Venezuela?
23:10And at best,
23:11the consequences
23:12of doing this
23:13are that the government
23:14just ends up
23:14doing dumb stuff.
23:16Like when someone
23:17on Twitter
23:17seemed to convince Elon
23:18that the gold inside
23:20Fort Knox
23:20might be missing.
23:21The Washington Post
23:23traced it back
23:23to this tweet,
23:24suggesting he'd take a look
23:25to make sure
23:26it was still there.
23:27Musk replied,
23:28surely it's reviewed
23:29every year.
23:29To which the account
23:30responded,
23:31it should be,
23:31it isn't.
23:32Just two days later,
23:33Musk tweeted,
23:34it would be cool
23:35to do a live
23:35video walkthrough
23:36of Fort Knox.
23:37And not long after that,
23:38this came out
23:40of the mouth
23:40of the President
23:41of the United States.
23:42We're actually going
23:43to Fort Knox
23:44to see if the gold
23:45is there.
23:46Because maybe
23:47somebody stole the gold.
23:48Tons of gold.
23:50Okay.
23:51Well,
23:53let us know,
23:54I guess.
23:55Honestly,
23:56I know it's probably
23:57not a great use
23:58of taxpayer money,
23:59but I think
24:00I'd be okay
24:01if he spent
24:02the rest of his presidency
24:03trying to solve
24:04low-stakes mysteries
24:05he found on Twitter.
24:07Visiting Fort Knox
24:08because someone said
24:09the gold might be missing
24:10or pouring around
24:11in the White House garden
24:12with a magnifying glass
24:13because Kourtney Kardashian
24:14once tweeted,
24:15do ants have dicks?
24:17It wouldn't be
24:18the worst use
24:19of his time.
24:20Anything that
24:21keeps him busy,
24:22really.
24:24But wild gold chases
24:26are the best case scenario
24:27here because
24:27we've talked before
24:28about how misinformation
24:29on Twitter
24:30led to actual spending cuts
24:32during Elon's time
24:32at Doge,
24:33but it goes
24:34well beyond that.
24:36A nominee
24:36for a senior
24:37administration post
24:38recently told
24:39The New Yorker,
24:40if we have something
24:41that's popular
24:41in right-wing Twitter,
24:42the White House
24:43is acting on it
24:4490-plus percent
24:45of the time.
24:46And Trump appointees
24:47like Harmeet Dhillon,
24:47the Assistant Attorney General
24:49for Civil Rights,
24:50will sometimes
24:51openly brag
24:52about taking work cues
24:54from social media.
24:55I have a big
24:56social media following
24:57from before I joined
24:58the DOJ
24:59and about 1.5 million
25:00plus followers online.
25:02It is a way
25:02to find information.
25:04Today, I don't actually
25:04watch television very much.
25:06I'm not, you know,
25:07I don't have the TV
25:08on in the background
25:09because TV is like
25:1012 to 24 hours behind
25:12what's really happening.
25:13And when the modern-day
25:15journalist heroes
25:17who are the Nick Shurleys
25:18and, you know,
25:19the Matt Taimi's
25:20and some of these others
25:21who, you know,
25:22right or left,
25:23they're the ones
25:24who are getting the leads
25:25and sharing the stories
25:26in real time,
25:28those are the ones
25:29I pay attention to.
25:30And where we get
25:31our attention on something,
25:32our libs of TikTok
25:33is also a great source
25:34for some of our issues
25:36involving schools
25:37or employment.
25:38We do open up
25:39investigations based
25:40on internet leads
25:41and I am proud of that.
25:43Okay, first,
25:45bragging about
25:45your Twitter followers
25:46is just embarrassing.
25:48And it gets even worse
25:49when you learn
25:50that last December,
25:50Dylan tweeted,
25:51I've been stuck
25:52at pretty much
25:52the same level of followers
25:53on this account
25:54since I started
25:55my government job.
25:56What am I,
25:56chopped liver over here?
25:58What kind of content
25:59do my folks want
26:00to see more of
26:01to like and share?
26:02To which I'd respond,
26:03I guess I'd love
26:05to see a resignation letter
26:06if you're taking requests.
26:07But also,
26:08it's a little hard
26:09to hear her
26:10complain about
26:11a lack of followers
26:12given she routinely
26:13pumps out duds
26:14like this recent one,
26:15On the Road,
26:16Timeline Cleanse Knitting,
26:18After a Day of Hard Work,
26:19Cash Me a Hat for a Man.
26:21And this one,
26:22also about a hat,
26:23but in which she throws in
26:24the R slur
26:25for good measure.
26:26And what the fuck is that?
26:28That is a hard-on follow
26:30for me
26:31for the Assistant Attorney General
26:33for Civil Rights.
26:34But there are obvious issues
26:36with the government
26:37taking cues from accounts
26:39that Dylan Justice
26:40described,
26:40because some are posting
26:42deeply irresponsible rage bait.
26:44Take a guy
26:45that she just mentioned there,
26:46Nick Shirley.
26:46He's the 23-year-old
26:48right-wing influencer
26:48behind a viral investigation
26:50of Minnesota daycares
26:52posted in December.
26:53They were actually
26:54playing a clip of it
26:55during her interview there.
26:56Shirley posted it
26:58on YouTube first,
26:59but it quickly went viral
27:00on Twitter,
27:00where it so far garnered
27:01over 140 million views.
27:03And it's worth knowing
27:04just how flimsy it was.
27:06For context,
27:07allegations of social services
27:09fraud in Minnesota,
27:10some of it by Somali-Americans,
27:12have been the subject
27:12of federal investigations
27:13and mainstream media coverage
27:14for years now.
27:16Dozens of people
27:17have already been convicted
27:18as a result,
27:19with some investigations
27:19still ongoing.
27:21Still, Nick Shirley
27:22decided to do some
27:23investigating of his own
27:25by showing up at daycares,
27:27demanding to see
27:28proof kids went there,
27:29and in some instances,
27:30asking if he could enroll
27:31his non-existent child.
27:33When he wasn't able to do that,
27:34he concluded
27:35the businesses were fronts.
27:37It was a truly ridiculous stunt,
27:39as he sort of acknowledged
27:40when pressed on it
27:41by an actual reporter.
27:43But surely you don't think
27:44a daycare should just
27:45be unlocked.
27:46You shouldn't be able
27:46to just walk into a daycare.
27:48There shouldn't be a reception.
27:49It is a reception.
27:49No, every daycare is locked.
27:53And so, okay,
27:54you bring up a fair point,
27:55then why can't they
27:56actually give me information
27:57on how to enroll a child?
27:58Okay, first,
27:59I love the slight pause there
28:01after Shirley was told
28:02daycares are not typically
28:03open to strangers with cameras,
28:05just the slow realization
28:07that a locked door
28:08is one of the basic things
28:09every daycare should have,
28:11along with crayons,
28:12interlocking foam tiles,
28:13tiny tables and chairs,
28:14and so many germs,
28:15every part of your insides
28:16will be coated with the phlegm
28:17for the next two years straight.
28:18That is what daycares are.
28:21But also,
28:21if you really want
28:23the latest right-wing rallying cry
28:25to be,
28:25daycare should have a guest reception
28:27for random men without children
28:28who just want to poke around
28:29and film some shit,
28:30I'd love to see
28:32how that turns out for you.
28:33Now, you won't be surprised
28:35to learn that state investigators
28:36conducted compliance checks
28:38after Shirley's video
28:39went viral
28:39and found that the daycares he visited
28:41were operating as expected
28:42and the kids were present
28:44at all sites except for one,
28:45and that is only because
28:46it wasn't yet open
28:47for families for the day
28:49when inspectors arrived.
28:50But the thing is,
28:51it was already too late
28:52because Elon absolutely loved
28:54that dumb video.
28:55He tweeted, retweeted,
28:57and engaged with a truly absurd
28:59number of posts about it
29:01or the claims that it made
29:02in the days after the video
29:04went online,
29:04and unsurprisingly,
29:06the Trump administration
29:06took notice.
29:07The day after it was posted,
29:09J.D. Vance tweeted about it,
29:10saying it was more useful journalism
29:12than any of the winners
29:13of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes,
29:15which, given one of them
29:16focused on tactics authoritarian regimes
29:18used to repress,
29:19dissenting the digital age
29:20feels a bit on the nose.
29:22Two days after that,
29:24Kristi Noem posted a clip
29:25of ICE agents
29:26apparently conducting
29:26a massive investigation
29:28into child care fraud
29:29in Minneapolis,
29:29and the next day,
29:31Trump's then deputy secretary
29:32at HHS posted on Twitter
29:35tagging Nick Shirley
29:36and including this video
29:37that was then retweeted
29:39by HHS.
29:40Intrepid journalists
29:41have made shocking,
29:42incredible allegations
29:43of extensive fraud
29:44in Minnesota's
29:45child care programs.
29:47We believe the state
29:48of Minnesota
29:48has allowed scammers
29:49and fake daycares
29:50to siphon millions
29:51of taxpayer dollars
29:52over the past decade.
29:54Wow, look,
29:54I know it is distracting
29:56because that man
29:56is hot as shit.
29:59But if you can listen
30:01to his words
30:02through the smoke show
30:03going on there,
30:05they're actually
30:06very worrying.
30:08In that post,
30:09they announced
30:10they've frozen funding
30:11to Minnesota
30:11and then quickly
30:12tried expanding that
30:13to encompass
30:14five Democratic-run states.
30:16And within two weeks,
30:17the Trump administration
30:17sent thousands
30:19of federal agents
30:19to Minnesota
30:20to crack down
30:21on illegal immigration.
30:23I don't think
30:23it's a stretch to say
30:25that a lot of the shit
30:26you saw in Minnesota
30:27was caused,
30:28at least in part,
30:28by this fucking tweet.
30:30The point here is
30:32Twitter has become
30:33a sewer
30:34of misinformation
30:35with the power
30:35to bring about
30:36troubling real-world impacts.
30:38And to be clear,
30:39this is now a problem
30:40that goes far beyond
30:41this administration
30:42or this country.
30:44Because to see
30:45just how dangerous
30:46what Elon's built can be,
30:47we actually have
30:48to look at England.
30:49In 2024,
30:50in a town called Southport,
30:51three young girls
30:52were killed in a knife attack.
30:53It was horrific.
30:54In the immediate aftermath,
30:55there was almost
30:56no public information
30:57available about the attacker.
30:59But nevertheless,
31:00a Twitter account
31:00called Europe Invasion,
31:02known to publish
31:02anti-immigrant
31:03and Islamophobic content,
31:05baselessly suggested
31:06the suspect
31:07was a Muslim immigrant.
31:08By the time
31:08the killer was identified
31:09as a non-Muslim
31:10British citizen
31:11born to parents
31:12from Rwanda,
31:13it was already too late
31:14as mobs were forming.
31:15And after a vigil
31:17for the victims,
31:18violence broke out
31:19near a local mosque
31:20with people throwing
31:21bricks, bottles
31:21and other missiles at it.
31:23And the imam there
31:23still seemed stunned
31:25by the speed
31:26with which it all accelerated.
31:28We start getting
31:30messages from friends
31:32and neighbours
31:33and saying
31:34there is a lot
31:35of people
31:36accusing
31:37the attacker
31:38of being a Muslim
31:39and then
31:41it's moving
31:43from there
31:43they said
31:44he is coming
31:45to this mosque
31:46and then it moved
31:48from there
31:48very quickly
31:49we're talking about
31:50within half an hour
31:51it became
31:53that we coerced him
31:54into doing
31:55what he did.
31:56Did you ever expect
31:57that it would
31:58end up
31:59that hatred
32:00would end up
32:01outside your mosque?
32:03That is terrible
32:04and given
32:05the killer
32:05wasn't a member
32:06of that mosque
32:07or indeed Muslim
32:08of course you wouldn't
32:10expect a hate mob
32:11to show up
32:11it makes literally
32:12as much sense
32:13as a mob showing up
32:14at a taco bell
32:15to protest the results
32:16of an Orlando magic game.
32:17Hey guys
32:18those two things
32:19are unrelated
32:20you got some
32:20bad intel
32:21go home
32:22you fucking idiots.
32:25But from there
32:26the riots spread
32:27nationwide
32:28with mobs targeting
32:29mosques
32:30and hotels
32:30housing asylum seekers
32:31and leading to
32:32what's been called
32:33the worst unrest
32:34the UK has seen
32:35in more than a decade
32:36and it was significantly
32:38fueled by Twitter
32:39with false or unfounded
32:41claims about the
32:41Southport attacker
32:42getting at least
32:43155 million impressions
32:45in the days
32:46after the attack
32:46and when the police
32:47there eventually
32:48made arrests
32:49for inciting racial hatred
32:50one of the men
32:51convicted
32:51happened to be earning
32:53£1,400 a month
32:54from his activities
32:55on the site
32:56and it is hard
32:57to deny
32:58Twitter's role
32:59as at the very least
33:00an accelerant
33:01two of the major voices
33:03spreading dangerous
33:04misinformation
33:04were Andrew Tate
33:05and Tommy Robertson
33:06who remember
33:06Elon reinstated
33:08to the platform
33:08and Elon himself
33:09was acting as a sort
33:11of amplifier
33:11to the point
33:11that he replied
33:12to one post
33:13about the attacks
33:14with
33:14civil war
33:15is inevitable
33:16and it's not like
33:18some of the key
33:19participants
33:20have denied
33:21how critical
33:22Twitter's role
33:22has been
33:23Robertson's far right
33:24movement
33:24picked up
33:24significant steam
33:25in the wake
33:26of Southport
33:27and here he is
33:27not long after the riots
33:29giving credit
33:30where he feels it's due
33:31look what we've achieved
33:32in six months
33:33we've gone from
33:34through the roof
33:35thanks to Elon Musk
33:36built a cult movement
33:38ready
33:39inspired many
33:42and
33:44we're ready
33:44yeah not great
33:46and if that wasn't
33:47bad enough
33:47Robertson actually hosted
33:49an anti-immigration
33:50unite the kingdom
33:51rally in London
33:52last year
33:52and you'll never guess
33:53who he managed to get
33:55as a special guest
33:56the huge crowds
33:57in Westminster
33:58didn't turn out
33:59just for Tommy Robinson
34:00they were also chanting
34:02someone else's name
34:03Elon Musk
34:06joining in from America
34:07whether you choose
34:08violence or not
34:09violence is coming
34:10to you
34:11you either
34:12fight back
34:12or you die
34:14okay
34:15saying fight back
34:16or die
34:17to that crowd
34:18is so malevolent
34:20I can barely wrap
34:21my head around it
34:22and I've got to say
34:23what he's doing there
34:24sure does seem like
34:25a strong case of
34:26if I may quote
34:27Elon himself
34:27someone whispering
34:29terrible things
34:29things that weren't true
34:31and they're pushing
34:31a nihilistic
34:32anti-civilizational
34:34mind virus
34:34to the world
34:35it is
34:36worm-tongue coded
34:37at least
34:38is what I am saying here
34:40and look
34:41this is typically
34:42where I trot out my hit catchphrase
34:44what can we do
34:45you know it
34:45people go crazy
34:46when I say
34:47it's on t-shirts now
34:48and I can't walk down the street
34:49without people begging me
34:50to say it to them
34:51but right now
34:53unfortunately
34:53there's not much
34:54we can push for
34:55by way of solutions
34:56the fact is
34:56a massive media platform
34:58has been shaped
34:59in the image
34:59of its poisonous owner
35:00and it doesn't seem
35:02like Elon's
35:02going to see the error
35:04of his ways
35:04anytime soon
35:05seeing his brain
35:06seems to be
35:07thoroughly cooked
35:08by the garbage
35:08it consumes
35:09on his own site
35:10to be honest
35:10he still doesn't see
35:12to have a coherent vision
35:14of exactly what Twitter
35:15should be
35:15because just watch
35:16this recent interview
35:17where he offers
35:18a pretty grand vision
35:19for it
35:19but then gets tripped up
35:20by the most basic
35:21follow-up question
35:23imaginable
35:24and I promise
35:24this answer
35:25is so much worse
35:27than you are
35:28prepared for
35:29I just want to really have
35:31a global platform
35:32that brings together
35:35like I said
35:35it becomes as close
35:37to sort of
35:37a collective consciousness
35:40of humanity
35:41as possible
35:41and why is that
35:42important
35:43collective consciousness
35:44to have one platform
35:46I guess
35:49why is that important
36:00I guess it's
36:02you could also say
36:03like why
36:05you know
36:06if you consider
36:07humans
36:07like humans
36:08like humans
36:08are composed
36:09of around
36:1030 to 40 trillion cells
36:14and
36:16you know
36:17there's trillions
36:18of synapses
36:19in your mind
36:25but there's not
36:27the why
36:27of it
36:28I mean I guess
36:28it's just
36:29so we can
36:31increase
36:33our understanding
36:34our
36:35understand
36:35increase our
36:39our understanding
36:40of the universe
36:43of the universe
36:43you know
36:44at first
36:45I thought
36:46that was embarrassing
36:47what with the full
36:4710 seconds
36:48where Elon's brain
36:49seemed to buffer
36:50like it's loading
36:51a video on AOL
36:52in 1999
36:52but
36:53then I saw
36:54the little drawing
36:55labelled
36:5530 to 40 trillion
36:57cells
36:57and it
36:58all totally
36:59made sense
37:01so it seems
37:01like the odds
37:02of Elon
37:02fixing this
37:03are pretty slim
37:04meaning
37:04all we can really
37:05control
37:06is how we
37:06each interact
37:07with Twitter
37:07and I know
37:08that there are
37:08some out there
37:09who think it's
37:10important to stay
37:10on it
37:11to be part
37:11of the town square
37:13although given
37:14that town square
37:14now resembles
37:15if anything
37:16this
37:16I'm not sure
37:17much good faith
37:18debate is taking
37:19place there
37:19my personal advice
37:21is not to post
37:22on it at all
37:23I haven't done
37:23that in over a year
37:24although I will be
37:25going back there
37:25tomorrow
37:26to post a link
37:27to this piece
37:27before going silent
37:29again and prioritizing
37:30my OnlyFans
37:32and look
37:33I know
37:34people have
37:35their own reasons
37:36for staying on Twitter
37:37though for what it's worth
37:38a lot of what it does
37:39can be replicated elsewhere
37:40if you want to stay in touch
37:41with friends or contacts
37:42maybe try and connect
37:43with them somewhere else
37:44if you spend most of your time
37:45sending your significant other
37:46memes and funny posts
37:47there are other sites
37:48where you can find those
37:49but also
37:50maybe put your phone down
37:51and take your wife out to dinner
37:52it's been a long time
37:53since you went out
37:54without the kids
37:55and if you just want
37:56to watch arguments
37:57may I recommend
37:58the Real Housewives franchises
38:00the Shakespeare
38:01of the modern age
38:02all I'll say is
38:04there are certain areas
38:05like news in particular
38:06where Twitter is now
38:08worse than useless
38:09in fact
38:10for breaking news
38:11it is an active liability
38:13as people routinely
38:14push out false information
38:15in the wake of
38:16tragedies and crises
38:17often for money
38:19and there don't seem to be
38:21many guardrails to stop them
38:22all of which
38:23is really a long way
38:24of saying that
38:24the Twitter
38:25that we may have once relied on
38:27and the Twitter
38:28that was fun
38:29and occasionally useful
38:30is just well
38:30and truly gone
38:32and collectively
38:33while it might be sad
38:34it might be past time
38:36for all of us too
38:36if I may borrow
38:37a truly poisoned phrase
38:40let that
38:42sink in
38:44that's our show
38:45thanks so much for watching
38:46we'll see you next week
38:47good night
38:50how about this
38:51for the parsnip
38:52straight out of my raised bed
38:55the raised bed
38:57is from there
38:59down to there
39:01and the parsnip
39:02has gone from top to bottom
39:04we'll enjoy that today
39:07oh it's beautiful
39:09we love parsnip
39:10in lots of different ways
39:12cheers
39:13cheers
39:14cheers
39:16cheers
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