Twitter will “continue to experiment” with its Spaces audio platform to give political candidates a chance to connect with an audience, despite the technical issues at a high-profile event, said David Sacks, who moderated a discussion Wednesday between Elon Musk and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Sacks, general partner at venture capital firm Craft Ventures, acknowledged the conversation got off to a rocky start, but said it went well after Musk’s account switched to his. “If your viewers go to Twitter now and listen to the recording, I think they’re going to wonder why all the fuss,” he said Thursday on Bloomberg TV. “Once we started in a room on my account, we worked perfectly,”
Twitter Spaces event was meant to kick off DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign. More than 500,000 people had been waiting for more than 20 minutes for the event to start, and people who tried to join were frequently kicked out. DeSantis and Musk joked that they broke the internet.
The dysfunction was widely mocked online, and Sacks failed to challenge DeSantis on key points such as his fight with the Walt Disney Co., or constraints on what schools teach about race or sexuality, as well as the decision to allow only the candidate’s supporters to ask questions. Sacks defended the chat, saying it went perfectly after the initial failure and that the hour-long conversation wasn’t enough to cover all the issues.
“We tried to ask him some tough questions,” Sacks said.
Sacks blamed the delay for not being able to address DeSantis’ controversial views on abortion. “I think it’s an important issue and he’s going to have to talk about it,” Sacks said. “We couldn’t cover every problem in this town hall. We’ve covered so many issues, and it still feels like we’re scratching the surface. I think there will be other opportunities for the candidate to respond to this.
Sacks said, “Twitter really wants to be an open platform, a town hall that candidates can use.”
