Ron DeSantis 2024 bid: Glitch-ridden debacle for some, 'top story on Earth' for Elon Musk

Negative attention is still attention, and who knows this better than Elon Musk? On Tuesday, the Twitter CEO attended an online Twitter Spaces event with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who used the opportunity to announce his 2024 presidential election campaign. The event was hosted by Elon Musk himself along with David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur.

However, the stream experienced a string of glitches and disruptions, thus quickly garnering ridicule on social media. Some called the campaign "botched", while others said it was a display of Twitter's weaknesses. "I call it 'massive attention'," Musk tweeted, adding that despite the flak, it was the "top story on Earth today". 

The chaotic announcement, in no way, wavered Musk's plans of inviting politicians wanting to make their own presidential bid on Twitter. "All Presidential candidates are most welcome on this platform," he tweeted on Thursday. The billionaire also claimed that Twitter had experienced a "ballistic" amount of new account signups since DeSantis' announcement went viral, even if it was for the wrong reasons. 

I call it “massive attention”

Top story on Earth today

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 25, 2023

All Presidential candidates are most welcome on this platform

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2023

Musk defends Twitter amid DeSantis' presidential bid fiasco 

Musk also defended Twitter and its impressive reach while replying to a user who posted screenshots of former US President Donald Trump deriding DeSantis on Truth Social. Pointing out the irony in it, the CEO wrote: "The only reason people even know this is because of screenshots posted on Twitter lol." 

Musk's quick clapbacks come after his Twitter Spaces event with DeSantis experienced a technical meltdown. According to moderator David Sacks, the technological issues occurred due to a large number of participants “melting the servers". “We’ve got just a massive number of people online. So the servers are straining somewhat," Musk said.