How Elon Musk transformed Twitter — and what it means for online discourse

Mar 19, 2026 31 min

About this episode

Twitter was created 20 years ago. Many saw the platform as an online public square — a place to connect with strangers, spark viral debates, and even launch careers and social movements. When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he began reshaping it in his own image, eventually rebranding it as X, and redefining how it operates and what it’s used for. New York Times technology reporters Ryan Mac and Kate Conger, authors of <a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/character-limit/id6478955083" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter</a>, join Apple News In Conversation guest host <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sam-sanders-show/id1771084688" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sam Sanders</a> to unpack that transformation, and what it reveals about the future of social media.

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