Musk's X reeks of Failing Social Network Syndrome

The former Twitter is losing users, advertisers and relevance, and the US presidential election in November will be the platform's last.

- Dave Lee

The late chef and author Anthony Bourdain used to talk of "Failing Restaurant Syndrome" - the sad stench of an eatery going under.

The clientele begins to change.

Staff morale drops. Bills stop being paid.

It's "an affliction", Bourdain wrote in Kitchen Confidential, "that causes owners to flail about looking for a quick fix, a fast masterstroke that will 'turn things around', cure all their ills, reverse the already irreversible trend towards insolvency".

I'm starting to think the same thing could be said about struggling social networks: Failing Social Network Syndrome, I guess. X, formerly Twitter, utterly reeks of it.

On the night of Aug 12, a pungent spectacle erupted when X owner Elon Musk held a "conversation" with former US president Donald Trump. This fast masterstroke, which Mr Musk hopes will show X's political relevancy, merely underlined how far the once-vibrant and powerful network has fallen.

First came the more than 40 minutes of technical problems, which Mr Musk quickly but unconvincingly attributed to a cyber attack. The claim was quickly debunked by The Verge, citing internal company sources.