After setting X-formerly-Twitter's brand on fire by associating himself with Nazis, making fun of the Holocaust, furthering unhinged conspiracy theories, personally spreading disinformation, and encouraging the rampant use of racial slurs, billionaire owner Elon Musk wants to revamp the social media site's tarnished image.

As Business Insider reports, X is looking to hire a PR specialist in an apparent bid to boost its reputation. According to the publication's sources, X is recruiting a communications leader to improve relations with reporters.

But that would be far easier said than done. Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist," who bought the company for $44 billion in 2022, has started numerous flame wars with newspapers, accusing them of being "woke" or outright lying to the public (without providing supporting evidence).

In February, he called Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Long a "disgusting and cruel person" after she found that Musk had armed a severely underqualified 25-year-old to infiltrate the US Treasury's payments system.

In other words, to say that X has its work cut out to brush up its public image would be a laughable understatement.

The network has suffered greatly under Musk's leadership in many ways. In 2023, he told advertisers outright to "go f*ck yourself" after his widely publicized antisemitic commentary triggered a major exodus.

To make matters even worse, X filed a lawsuit against a group of advertisers last year, accusing them of unfairly ganging up on the company.

The plunging revenue sent the company into a financial tailspin. In a leaked email in January, Musk admitted defeat, writing that "our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we’re barely breaking even."

Meanwhile, users who'd had enough of the site's hostile environment went running for the hills. Following the presidential election in November, X experienced its biggest user exodus since Musk bought the company in 2022, with users flooding to alternatives including Bluesky and Instagram's Threads.

Even Musk's Grok AI chatbot, which can be accessed on X, has seemingly had enough of its fellow users, saying that "as I get smarter, my answers aim for facts and nuance, which can clash with some MAGA expectations."

Working in comms at the troubled social platform isn't for the faint of heart. According to BI, the company has "had a revolving door of comms execs in the past year," with several high-profile staffers leaving their posts under CEO Linda Yaccarino's leadership.

In short, X-formerly-Twitter has an enormous problem in the shape of Elon Musk — an incredibly damaging affiliation that could prove extremely difficult to underplay while pitching to advertisers.

"It certainly would be the challenge of a lifetime," BI's source said of the PR role.

More on X: MAGA Angry as Elon Musk's Grok AI Keeps Explaining Why Their Beliefs Are Factually Incorrect

The post Check Out Elon Musk's Desperate Bid to Boost Twitter's Ruined Reputation appeared first on Futurism.

Read the original here:
Check Out Elon Musk's Desperate Bid to Boost Twitter's Ruined Reputation