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Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter

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

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.

About

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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]

Reception

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The book was listed as one of Lit Hub's most anticipated books of 2024.[7]

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".[8]

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".[9]

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".[10]

Despite Conger and Mac reaching out with over 500 questions before the publication of Character Limit, Musk did not respond.[11] His only response to the book was a retweet to a photo of Character Limit to which he replied with two laughing emojis.[12]

References

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