- Ron DeSantis’ 2024 announcement on Twitter Spaces has been plagued with ongoing technical difficulties.
- The gaffe is the latest example of the blackouts that have plagued Twitter since Elon Musk took over.
- The launch challenges Twitter’s streaming capabilities following server shutdowns.
Elon Musk has big plans for Twitter, including using Twitter Spaces on Wednesday to livestream Twitter’s biggest political event yet, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his presidential bid. of 2024.
But the hour-long event was plagued with technical difficulties, persistent glitches and faulty audio even after a nearly 30-minute delay caused by server issues.
“We’ve got so many people here that we’re melting the servers,” said tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who co-hosted the announcement with Musk.
The livestream initially attracted over 500,000 listeners – a sizable number for sure, though far from the largest number of people gathered in a single digital space, like Sacks incorrectly suggested Wednesday. (Just over a month ago, Musk did a Twitter Spaces chat with a BBC reporter that drew 3 million listeners.)
Musk has over 140 million followers, all of whom were alerted to the start of DeSantis’ announcement. The Twitter CEO was eventually forced to relaunch the livestream using Sacks’ Twitter account, and the secondary attempt only attracted about half the original viewership.
It’s the latest example of the technical breakdowns and user issues that have increasingly plagued Twitter since Musk took over the social media platform late last year, question the ability of the website to answer Musk’s goal of more streaming.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An insider email to Twitter’s press team was answered with a single poo emoji.
The growing number of tech issues is likely attributed to a wave of mass layoffs Musk oversaw shortly after the Twitter acquisition, including cuts to several tech and support staff positions, as well as the decision of the new CEO to reduce Twitter’s server capacity to save money. move.
In November, Musk announced his “Deep Cuts Plan,” in an internal company message, with the goal of cutting spending by $1.5 million a day on the company’s data servers and cloud services. business.
At the time, some Twitter employees feared the cost-cutting plan would lead to widespread server disruptions and possible website crashes during high-volume events such as elections — and possibly elections. presidential announcements.
Indeed, Twitter’s website outages, glitches and bugs have increased since last year’s shutdowns, according to a New York Times report in February.
In February alone, the site recorded four major outages compared to just nine in the previous year, the outlet reported.
Musk has more than halved the number of Twitter employees since taking office, including several engineers who were previously tasked with keeping the website up and running.
Both Musk and Sacks acknowledged technical difficulties at Wednesday’s DeSantis event, blaming listener counts and an “unprecedented level of scalability.”
The glitchy Spaces event challenged Musk’s future goals for Twitter, which includes a new streaming show hosted by former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson – America’s most popular cable news personality. history of the United States, which has frequently drawn millions of viewers more than DeSantis’ 500,000.
The conservative Daily Wire newspaper also announced this week that it would bring its list of podcasts to Twitter on May 30.
Musk also invited longtime CNN host Don Lemon to launch a Twitter show after he was fired from the network earlier this year, and Twitter CEO launched an open call to “all presidential candidates” after Wednesday’s DeSantis stream.
businessinsider
