From very early on in Elon Musk’s ownership of exTwitter a few things became clear regarding his understanding of the FTC. First, he clearly had no idea that the company has a consent decree with the FTC (the kind of thing you learn about during due diligence, which he waived in the purchasing process) and once he learned about it, he assumed he could just ignore it.
Currently, Musk is fighting with the FTC to try to stymie their investigation, claiming (ridiculously) that the FTC’s consent decree doesn’t really apply to him and also that the current investigation is politically motivated, and not because he’s been publicly ignoring everything the company agreed to in the latest version of the consent decree. In response, the US government has had to point out that there are all sorts of reasons why this investigation is happening because Musk continually seems to put user data at risk, with little concern about the impact of his action (which is par for the course for Musk, who seems to assume that putting others at risk is the best way to do business).
Of course, now there’s one more thing for the FTC to investigate. Last week, people started noticing that there was a new format of ads on exTwitter, and they appear to violate some fairly basic FTC guidelines regarding making sure users know they’re seeing sponsored content. Traditional exTwitter ads look and act more or less like regular tweets, but have a notification that they are sponsored ads or “promoted” content. You can still respond to them, retweet them, or even block the user.
Multiple X users have reached out to Mashable over the past few days to report seeing a new type of ad in their For You feed that they had not previously come across on the platform. These new X ads don’t allow users to like or retweet the ad posts. In fact, the new ad format also doesn’t disclose who is behind the ad or that it is even an advertisement at all.
Mashable has confirmed this ad format with numerous users from across X and have seen a variety of different ads running this bizarre new format that just consists of written copy text, a photo, and a fake avatar that’s sole purpose is to make the ad look like an organically posted tweet.
And exTwitter is certainly allowed to remove the ability to treat ads like tweets, and take away the blocking/replying/etc features. But what they really can’t do (because no one can do this without violating some FTC rules) is hide the fact that they’re ads.
This isn’t some new thing either. The FTC’s power to go after unfair and deceptive practices has been in place for ages, and they’ve made it clear that this applies to the lack of disclosures for digital ads many, many, many times.
It sounds like these ads are not being run through exTwitter’s usual ad engine, but rather the company signed up with a chumbox provider. If you’re unfamiliar with chumboxes, we’ve written about them before (to tell you why Techdirt won’t use them, even though the companies reach out to us daily, and we’ve heard from other publishers that they’re actually surprisingly lucrative). They’re often seen at the end of news articles and promote extremely clickbaity headlines saying things like “the secret energy companies don’t want you to know” or “the one trick to losing weight.”
They’re awful.
And now they’re on exTwitter.
And they’re appearing without the required disclosures.
Given the entirely new format, one hopes that the lack of disclosure is simply an oversight (which is the most likely situation), but that doesn’t necessarily mean the FTC will simply give them a pass for it, as it’s still likely to be considered deceptive.
It seems clear that exTwitter is getting pretty desperate for ad revenue since its own ad revenue is in free fall, almost entirely because of ridiculous actions by Elon. In the past, Elon insisted that he hated ads (which, you know, is not a bad thing), and he wanted to diversify exTwitter’s revenue (which is also a good idea). But then he YOLOd the whole process by pissing off a huge percentage of the company’s advertisers while his grand revenue scheme to charge users has been a complete and utter disaster.
Also, just before the chumboxes showed up, exTwitter also cut a deal with Google to have Google sell some of its ad space as well. Basically, Elon has dismantled what had been a decent internal ads system, driving away 60% of the revenue almost entirely because of the terrible shit he did that puts brands at risk, and has been forced to sign up with the bottom feeder ad companies to try to generate something (anything) to bring in some ad revenue (while only making the experience of using the platform worse).
And whatever they bring in may just end up going to lawyers who will be needed to respond to the FTC’s investigation of how these ads are presented.
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Anonymous Cowardsays:
Surprise – another day, another anti-Musk/X hit piece by Yoel Roth’s biggest fanboi. 🙄
This comment has been deemed insightful by the community.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Why do you feel the actions of the chief technology officer of a $44 billion dollar tech company aren’t newsworthy?
You’ve called it a hit piece….are there factual errors? Or do you think opinion based off disclosed public reporting constitutes a ‘hit piece’?
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
hello jhon
This comment has been deemed funny by the community.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Curious, who stands behind you with a gun pointed at your head forcing you to read Techdirt articles?
Asking for a friend…
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Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re:
I read TD for KB’s interesting critiques of the telecommunications industry, not for MM’s obsessive, venomous rants about a company he now hates because its chief censor was fired.
And yet, here you are, hatereading articles you claim not to like and bitching about something nobody made acknowledge even exists. Save yourself some mental trauma and just avoid reading articles you know you’re not going to like, son.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re: Re:
Boy, you are in for a surprise then if you go to other tech-sites that are also reports on exTwatter and the space Karen’s antics.
Btw, the space Karen doesn’t know who you are, so you playing the drunk knight in tarnished armor is kind of useless and it makes you look stupid.
Toodeloo…
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re: Re: So you’ve got that going for you
Hun you don’t have to read every article.
But hey at least you read them, unlike some of the other hate-potatoes around here.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re: Re:
Karl isn’t gonna shake your hand, asshole.
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Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re: Re:2
Karl isn’t gonna shake your hand, asshole.
Bode is a disgusting, pro-transgender ideologue. I wouldn’t shake his hand with your dick.
But his telecom criticism is valid.
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Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re: Re:3
pro-transgender
What’s the matter, Hyman? Scared that a vagina-bearer is ten times the man you’ll ever be?
You don’t deserve that appendage dangling between your legs, which is why we’re going to have that removed the moment the opportunity arises.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re: Re:3
I see you are still infatuated with other peoples genitals. You should seek professional help.
If you don’t like Mike’s articles about Musk, don’t read them. It’s not like you can’t figure out the topic and author of each article without actually clicking to read any of it. If all you’re here for is KB’s stuff, the solution is simple: only read stuff with KB’s name in the byline.
That you expect a tech-focused news blog to not comment on Elon Musk’s handling of ExTwitter is just absurd.
Oh, and as for this:
a company he now hates because its chief censor was fired
You clearly haven’t been paying attention. He doesn’t hate Twitter now; he just thinks the leadership is incompetent, and the platform is less functional for his own purposes for a social media site. That’s not hate. And that position dates back to before the “chief censor” was fired, it was never the only reason for the problems, and if it was only that one guy who got fired, that wouldn’t have even been that big of a problem.
Surprise, I’m complaining about something I have complete control over–it’s 100% your fault I click on articles and visit sites that frustrate me by having beliefs different than those ordained by my mighty and appropriately white God: Elon Musk!1!!! Tremble at his eleventy-twelve dimensional thinking plebians!! I have thoroughly pwned you and am totally on fleek now, suck it hoser.
That’s an uncanny resemblance to a real Muskbro comment. Did you have to remove your brain temporarily to achieve such accuracy, or were drugs involved? ( ¬‿¬)
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Elon still ain’t gonna bang you. Get off his dick.
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Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re:
That’s what you think. Elon’s going to find a way to make me pregnant from the power of his mind alone. If Trump can declassify documents with his mind and men can fuck each other up the ass I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time before Elon thoughtfucks his child into me!
Rockysays:
Re: Re: Re:
Elon’s going to find a way to make me pregnant from the power of his mind alone.
You’ll have to pay $8 for that blue mark on the test, it’s Elon we are talking about…
Many people thought that, due to his failure to pay rent, his offices might be out on the sidewalks. That does not appear to be the case. His landlords have proven far more tolerant than expected.
He may still be there next year, stewing angrily in his usual manner.
Probably relying on the crumbling commercial real estate market to slow the response of the landlords at the bigger locations that might be hard to fill (The headquarters is seemingly still outstanding, for instance).
Poor Elon, wasting 44billion and realizing he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is
Davidsays:
Re:
What do you mean, “wasted”? He paid $44bn for the largest megaphone available and got it. It didn’t come with an extended warranty and it turns out that operating it underwater isn’t good for its indefinite existence, but it still is harvesting more derision for his collected and individualized wisdoms than he could readily achieve on Truth Social (say).
And it certainly appears like a more impressive approach at driving a company into the ground than his “Boring Company”.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
What do you mean, “realizing”? It’s always “someone else’s fault” ™! It’s… it’s… the ADL! It’s the activist groups! It’s Mark Zuckerberg!
There’s plenty of blame to go around … according to him.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.
This whole thing is nothing more than Elmo angling for a tax write-off, possibly the largest one to ever be recorded at the IRS. And the size of it says that he’ll be able to continue taking parts of that write-off for decades to come.
At least his tax lawyer says that this is a smart move, so who knows….
p.s. Don’t anyone tell Elmo that his tax lawyer is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business – that’d spoil the fun.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Its all part of a cunning plan (T.M.) to force the government to shutter X so that he can blame the dastardly liberals for censoring the company into non existence.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
I fully expect bratty Matty to use that as an actual excuse when Twitter finally gets flushed down the shitter.
Timsays:
Seems likely to coincide with the change to the way links are presented, no?
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
No headlines (unless they are actually ads).
No disclosure (unless they are private internal documents of pre-ex-Twitter, or user data).
This comment has been deemed insightful by the community.
I’d bet good money that the new ad format going live and the change to how links are displayed weren’t coincidental.
glennsays:
I can see [AI]’lonnie with his eyes closed and his hands over his ears while he goes “Nah-nah-nah-nah…” continually when others try to speak truth (and the law) to him.
I noticed a while back that the “Sponsored” label below most ads disappeared and was replaced by a tiny “ad” off to one side. I’m not surprised they’re getting rid of that as well.
If it's less than what you gained it's not a fine it's a cost of business
To be fair were I in Elon’s shoes and equally as spiteful/petty/sociopathic I wouldn’t really care about the FTC either, even if they get around to fining him it’s not like the amount is even going to come close to a notable percentage of whatever money he’s saving/making from flaunting the rules.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Elon needs to care about the FTC even less than bad cops need to care about the courts. Not only do we need precedent on the exact behavior at issue, whoever the FTC is trying to punish must be the one to have been caught doing it before. The first time’s always “you’ve been breaking the law for years, and your punishment is that you need to promise us you’ll stop doing that”.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
I would say that for any fine that FTC could come with, Twitter/X would have already lost tenfold.
And at this current stage, Twitter/X is bleeding much more money that the FTC ever wanted to fine them.
So let the boat sinking, then fine the captain for illegal dumping.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re:
He’s got more than the FTC to deal with…
The EU also wants to know why he’s slow in dealing with disinfo, especially in light of recent events…
And I would NOT be surprised if he’s saying certain things…
Next, we’ll remove all the action buttons with their superfluous interaction counts from the >main timeline. Just the view count will show, unless your tap into a post.
This will greatly improve readability.
First, this will make regular Xeets look like those undisclosed ads. Second, this will make scrolling past the unpopular stuff impossible. Third, it’ll make harder to check if Xitter removed your likes from Xeets the great freeze peach absolutist doesn’t like, which is something that they were caught doing recently for something called “Vatnik Soup” about Musk, which produced a healthy Streisand effect. Fourth, views, unlike replies, reXeets, and likes, don’t generate an easily accessible record of who interacted with what, making it a much more easily faked number.
In short, Musk does everything he can to destroy any sense of truth someone hooked on his hellscape of a platform might still have. The misinformation, engagement farming and botnets are all by design, and so is the promotion of the worst people. Musk does this intentionally, while lying and gaslighting.
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Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Musk does this intentionally, while lying and gaslighting.
Cry more about it, nerd.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re:
I see in your eloquent rebuttal that your intelligence far exceeds that of any ordinary person. May I suggest you apply your exceedingly large intellect to something worthwhile elsewhere instead of wasting it here?
The Vatnik Soup series is by a Latvian who post tweet threads about Russia’s allies and fellow travelers who take their side over Ukraine in the war.
Vatnik in Russian is akin to jingoist in English.
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Matthew M Bennettsays:
Nothing the FTC has done in last few years has even been legal (according to courts).
Why are you supporting Lina Khan’s fascist thuggery, Masnick? Just cuz it opposes your nemesis, Elon Musk?
None of this has any basis in law, of course. Not that you would know.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Why are you supporting Lina Khan’s fascist thuggery, Masnick? Just cuz it opposes your nemesis, Elon Musk?
You think that asking companies to actually explain that sponsored content is sponsored is “thuggery”?
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re: Re:
Bratty Matty makes shit up about people so he can demonize them, especially people who Mike thinks could perhaps make a difference. The guy isn’t particularly smart and he suffers from Dunning-Kruger.
So “courts” is the name you have for the voices that are only in your head.
Anonymous Cowardsays:
Re:
Do cite the relevant cases, then.
The twitter files have proven nothing. And no, your treasonous judges aren’t gonna overturn case law any time soon.
I doubt you could explain how the cases you might cite has any bearing on the FTC, wumao.
Ninjasays:
It all made sense to me when I found out he stated multiple times that Twitter and its “wokeness” are responsible for making his daughter a trans person. Evaluating this whole mess from the perspective that Musk hates Twitter and wants to destroy is illuminating.
I do think he just wanted to destroy the brand and turn it into a nazi cesspool, the financial woes are a collateral he didn’t anticipate. Because he’s dumb.
Comments on “Elon Musk Seems Really, Deeply Committed To Making Sure The FTC Has More To Investigate”
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Surprise – another day, another anti-Musk/X hit piece by Yoel Roth’s biggest fanboi. 🙄
Re:
Why do you feel the actions of the chief technology officer of a $44 billion dollar tech company aren’t newsworthy?
You’ve called it a hit piece….are there factual errors? Or do you think opinion based off disclosed public reporting constitutes a ‘hit piece’?
Re:
hello jhon
Re:
Curious, who stands behind you with a gun pointed at your head forcing you to read Techdirt articles?
Asking for a friend…
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Re: Re:
I read TD for KB’s interesting critiques of the telecommunications industry, not for MM’s obsessive, venomous rants about a company he now hates because its chief censor was fired.
Re: Re: Re:
And yet, here you are, hatereading articles you claim not to like and bitching about something nobody made acknowledge even exists. Save yourself some mental trauma and just avoid reading articles you know you’re not going to like, son.
Re: Re: Re:
Boy, you are in for a surprise then if you go to other tech-sites that are also reports on exTwatter and the space Karen’s antics.
Btw, the space Karen doesn’t know who you are, so you playing the drunk knight in tarnished armor is kind of useless and it makes you look stupid.
Toodeloo…
Re: Re: Re: So you’ve got that going for you
Hun you don’t have to read every article.
But hey at least you read them, unlike some of the other hate-potatoes around here.
Re: Re: Re:
Karl isn’t gonna shake your hand, asshole.
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Re: Re: Re:2
Bode is a disgusting, pro-transgender ideologue. I wouldn’t shake his hand with your dick.
But his telecom criticism is valid.
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Re: Re: Re:3
What’s the matter, Hyman? Scared that a vagina-bearer is ten times the man you’ll ever be?
You don’t deserve that appendage dangling between your legs, which is why we’re going to have that removed the moment the opportunity arises.
Re: Re: Re:3
I see you are still infatuated with other peoples genitals. You should seek professional help.
Re: Re: Re:
…hallucinated nobody mentally competent, ever.
Re: Re: Re:
If you don’t like Mike’s articles about Musk, don’t read them. It’s not like you can’t figure out the topic and author of each article without actually clicking to read any of it. If all you’re here for is KB’s stuff, the solution is simple: only read stuff with KB’s name in the byline.
That you expect a tech-focused news blog to not comment on Elon Musk’s handling of ExTwitter is just absurd.
Oh, and as for this:
You clearly haven’t been paying attention. He doesn’t hate Twitter now; he just thinks the leadership is incompetent, and the platform is less functional for his own purposes for a social media site. That’s not hate. And that position dates back to before the “chief censor” was fired, it was never the only reason for the problems, and if it was only that one guy who got fired, that wouldn’t have even been that big of a problem.
Re:
Surprise, I’m complaining about something I have complete control over–it’s 100% your fault I click on articles and visit sites that frustrate me by having beliefs different than those ordained by my mighty and appropriately white God: Elon Musk!1!!! Tremble at his eleventy-twelve dimensional thinking plebians!! I have thoroughly pwned you and am totally on fleek now, suck it hoser.
Re: Re:
That’s an uncanny resemblance to a real Muskbro comment. Did you have to remove your brain temporarily to achieve such accuracy, or were drugs involved? ( ¬‿¬)
Re:
Elon still ain’t gonna bang you. Get off his dick.
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Re: Re:
That’s what you think. Elon’s going to find a way to make me pregnant from the power of his mind alone. If Trump can declassify documents with his mind and men can fuck each other up the ass I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time before Elon thoughtfucks his child into me!
Re: Re: Re:
You’ll have to pay $8 for that blue mark on the test, it’s Elon we are talking about…
Re:
Musk stops doing stupid things, people stop writing about them, that’s the deal.
By this time next year, either Elon will no longer own Twitter or Twitter will have shut down. I can’t see it surviving in its current state.
Re: no promises, of course
Many people thought that, due to his failure to pay rent, his offices might be out on the sidewalks. That does not appear to be the case. His landlords have proven far more tolerant than expected.
He may still be there next year, stewing angrily in his usual manner.
Re: Re:
Musk has seemingly settled back rent with smaller locations.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2023/04/10/s-f-landlord-twitter-lawsuit-rent-dismissed.html
(if you just read the headline, this is about a smaller building, not the headquarters.)
Probably relying on the crumbling commercial real estate market to slow the response of the landlords at the bigger locations that might be hard to fill (The headquarters is seemingly still outstanding, for instance).
Poor Elon, wasting 44billion and realizing he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is
Re:
What do you mean, “wasted”? He paid $44bn for the largest megaphone available and got it. It didn’t come with an extended warranty and it turns out that operating it underwater isn’t good for its indefinite existence, but it still is harvesting more derision for his collected and individualized wisdoms than he could readily achieve on Truth Social (say).
And it certainly appears like a more impressive approach at driving a company into the ground than his “Boring Company”.
Re:
What do you mean, “realizing”? It’s always “someone else’s fault” ™! It’s… it’s… the ADL! It’s the activist groups! It’s Mark Zuckerberg!
There’s plenty of blame to go around … according to him.
Re:
This whole thing is nothing more than Elmo angling for a tax write-off, possibly the largest one to ever be recorded at the IRS. And the size of it says that he’ll be able to continue taking parts of that write-off for decades to come.
At least his tax lawyer says that this is a smart move, so who knows….
p.s. Don’t anyone tell Elmo that his tax lawyer is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business – that’d spoil the fun.
Its all part of a cunning plan (T.M.) to force the government to shutter X so that he can blame the dastardly liberals for censoring the company into non existence.
Re:
I fully expect bratty Matty to use that as an actual excuse when Twitter finally gets flushed down the shitter.
Seems likely to coincide with the change to the way links are presented, no?
Re:
No headlines (unless they are actually ads).
No disclosure (unless they are private internal documents of pre-ex-Twitter, or user data).
Re:
I’d bet good money that the new ad format going live and the change to how links are displayed weren’t coincidental.
I can see [AI]’lonnie with his eyes closed and his hands over his ears while he goes “Nah-nah-nah-nah…” continually when others try to speak truth (and the law) to him.
Space Karen is so easy to sucker.
I noticed a while back that the “Sponsored” label below most ads disappeared and was replaced by a tiny “ad” off to one side. I’m not surprised they’re getting rid of that as well.
If it's less than what you gained it's not a fine it's a cost of business
To be fair were I in Elon’s shoes and equally as spiteful/petty/sociopathic I wouldn’t really care about the FTC either, even if they get around to fining him it’s not like the amount is even going to come close to a notable percentage of whatever money he’s saving/making from flaunting the rules.
Re:
Elon needs to care about the FTC even less than bad cops need to care about the courts. Not only do we need precedent on the exact behavior at issue, whoever the FTC is trying to punish must be the one to have been caught doing it before. The first time’s always “you’ve been breaking the law for years, and your punishment is that you need to promise us you’ll stop doing that”.
Re:
I would say that for any fine that FTC could come with, Twitter/X would have already lost tenfold.
And at this current stage, Twitter/X is bleeding much more money that the FTC ever wanted to fine them.
So let the boat sinking, then fine the captain for illegal dumping.
Re: Re:
He’s got more than the FTC to deal with…
The EU also wants to know why he’s slow in dealing with disinfo, especially in light of recent events…
And I would NOT be surprised if he’s saying certain things…
It could always get wrose
A few days ago, Musk Xeeted:
First, this will make regular Xeets look like those undisclosed ads. Second, this will make scrolling past the unpopular stuff impossible. Third, it’ll make harder to check if Xitter removed your likes from Xeets the great freeze peach absolutist doesn’t like, which is something that they were caught doing recently for something called “Vatnik Soup” about Musk, which produced a healthy Streisand effect. Fourth, views, unlike replies, reXeets, and likes, don’t generate an easily accessible record of who interacted with what, making it a much more easily faked number.
In short, Musk does everything he can to destroy any sense of truth someone hooked on his hellscape of a platform might still have. The misinformation, engagement farming and botnets are all by design, and so is the promotion of the worst people. Musk does this intentionally, while lying and gaslighting.
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Re:
Cry more about it, nerd.
Re: Re:
I see in your eloquent rebuttal that your intelligence far exceeds that of any ordinary person. May I suggest you apply your exceedingly large intellect to something worthwhile elsewhere instead of wasting it here?
Re: Vatnik Soup
The Vatnik Soup series is by a Latvian who post tweet threads about Russia’s allies and fellow travelers who take their side over Ukraine in the war.
Vatnik in Russian is akin to jingoist in English.
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Nothing the FTC has done in last few years has even been legal (according to courts).
Why are you supporting Lina Khan’s fascist thuggery, Masnick? Just cuz it opposes your nemesis, Elon Musk?
None of this has any basis in law, of course. Not that you would know.
Re:
You think that asking companies to actually explain that sponsored content is sponsored is “thuggery”?
Re: Re:
Bratty Matty makes shit up about people so he can demonize them, especially people who Mike thinks could perhaps make a difference. The guy isn’t particularly smart and he suffers from Dunning-Kruger.
Re:
So “courts” is the name you have for the voices that are only in your head.
Re:
Do cite the relevant cases, then.
The twitter files have proven nothing. And no, your treasonous judges aren’t gonna overturn case law any time soon.
I doubt you could explain how the cases you might cite has any bearing on the FTC, wumao.
It all made sense to me when I found out he stated multiple times that Twitter and its “wokeness” are responsible for making his daughter a trans person. Evaluating this whole mess from the perspective that Musk hates Twitter and wants to destroy is illuminating.
I do think he just wanted to destroy the brand and turn it into a nazi cesspool, the financial woes are a collateral he didn’t anticipate. Because he’s dumb.