Recently, liberal billionaire and left-leaning comedian Jon Stewart mocked Elon Musk during an episode of “The Daily Show” after the multi-company CEO hosted an interview with former President Donald Trump on his social media platform X. However, Musk would have the last word, informing them about how the algorithm on X works.
Cuban and Stewart insinuated that Musk had nefarious motives in his takeover of X in late 2022, suggesting he was attempting to use his power to influence public discourse. However, Musk, a staunch free-speech advocate, has maintained that he will protect freedom of expression from any side of the aisle on his platform.
“I mean, look at Elon, right? Elon, in being one of the most powerful people, he’s trying to be the most influential man in the world — it sounds like a commercial — but literally, that’s what Twitter has given him,” Cuban said. Stewart weighed in, “I’ve gotta say, I think he might be that. I don’t even think he’s trying to be. When you talk about somebody who is setting up satellite links for war zones and also controlling discourse in the most important media platform, he is the most powerful.”
Cuban further suggested, “Cause Twitter is in almost every country, right? And so Twitter gives him the ability to connect to the prime minister, the head of every country in the world. And that person, whoever’s in charge of that country, has an interest in what happens on Twitter, and what happens on Twitter, because of the control of the algorithms, being the biggest user, is all dependent on Elon Musk. He literally, wherever his thumb wants to go, he gets to push as hard as he wants.”
Stewart then claimed that Musk is concerned about the prospect of civil war, particularly for white Americans. “I think he’s very clear that civil war is inevitable, and that white people are under the gun,” he said. Cuban added, “Frightening, concerning.”
The billionaire proceeded to comment on the algorithm behind X. “When you write an algorithm — I haven’t written a lot, it’s been a while — but when you write one, you get to set the parameters of what you want to see happen. And he certainly has done that to the things he likes,” he continued. Stewart commented, “But isn’t this a certain amount of tech bro malpractice, that there is this incredible need in the marketplace of something that is slightly less biased or … toxic?”
Musk addressed the critical commentary toward him on X, offering insight into how the platform really works. “That was hilarious 😂 Unlike the other platforms, our algorithm is open source! And if you interact and argue with ‘right wing’ accounts, which Cuban does a lot, the algorithm will assume that’s what you *want* to do and give you more of it lmao,” he said.
