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Free Bird: On Elon Musk and Twitter
Free Bird: On Elon Musk and Twitter
Schoolchildren and peace campaigners release doves and pigeons in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Adrian Dennis via Getty Images)
In more than a decade on Twitter, Walter Kirn watched as the platform manipulated reality in real-time. Now? ‘Let the wild rumpus begin.’
By Walter Kirn
11.02.22 — Culture and Ideas
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The Free Press
The Free Press
Free Bird: On Elon Musk and Twitter

Let me tell you about my strange time on Twitter, a so-called “social-media platform” of the early 21st century. In what I suspect is the increasing likelihood that digital records of our lives now will someday be erased, mislaid, or virtually composted in such a way as to make them irretrievable, the little story I’m about to tell may make little sense…

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Walter Kirn
Walter Kirn is an essayist, screenwriter, and novelist. His books include Up in the Air and Thumbsucker, both of which were made into movies. His latest book is Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade.
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