Kara and Scott discuss the Meta tell-all that's become a bestseller, the latest attempt to sunset Section 230, and RFK Jr.'s justification for banning phones in schools. Then, Elon Musk's visit to the Pentagon is raising questions about his conflicts of interest, especially as SpaceX prepares to get a windfall from government contracts. Plus, the massive Cybertruck recall, and Elon's daughter Vivian gives a candid and delightful interview to Teen Vogue. Follow us on Instagram and Threads at @pivotpodcastofficial. Follow us on Bluesky at @pivotpod.bsky.social. Follow us on TikTok at @pivotpodcast. Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or at nymag.com/pivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the latest controversies surrounding Elon Musk?
Anyway, Puerto Rico. I'm in Puerto Rico. It's lovely here. Are you enjoying it? Yeah, I'm going back today. I'd rather not go back at all, but it's lovely. It's a lovely place. Food, amazing. Got a great Airbnb. It was great. Just a really nice. I had three of the four kids, and it's been lovely. Anyway, we've got a lot to get to today, including Elon's visit to the Pentagon.
Chapter 2: Why is the Cybertruck recall significant?
Tesla facing more trouble with a massive Cybertruck recall. I saw one Cybertruck here, by the way, Scott, in Puerto Rico. That's it. That's all I've seen is one. But there's not that many that were sold, apparently, as the massive Cybertruck recall has shown. Where are you right now?
I'm in the UK. I'm in London.
Oh, good. How's that going?
I had a really nice weekend. It was great. I had a nice weekend. Our friends, Alenca and Nacho, our Argentinian friends are visiting. It's nice because our boys all are close friends and they just love to drink. As long as there's wine, they won't leave. And their accents get thicker and thicker. And I don't know what they're saying, but he laughs so wonderfully. It makes me laugh. That's nice.
That's nice.
And I took him for a roast at Laura the Land, which is this pub.
This is like a Sunday roast.
Yeah, Sunday roast. Owned by Guy Ritchie. It's a total British pub. So yeah, I had a nice weekend. And then on Friday night, I took my... youngest to see Team England play Albania. And literally half of Albania came to see this game. I mean, these fans are so out of control. Wow. It's a nation of two million people, and I'm not exaggerating. It felt like half of them were at this game.
Oh, that's great. It's a ton of fun.
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Chapter 3: How does Section 230 impact tech regulation?
He thinks he's going to move to Madrid. Yet this, Cara, in the last year, over 10,000 millionaires have left the UK.
Wow. Isn't that crazy? So they're doing it just to avoid taxes, to avoid... You know, on some level, it's sort of like they should probably lower taxes. At the same time, the tax avoidance schemes are so insane. I remember we had some stories in Puerto Rico when a lot of the Bitcoin guys came in. They were sort of wrecking the place.
And at the same time, we're buying up these expensive houses and they were conducting themselves badly. And the whole thing was so icky. Like the ways, the gyrations people make to do this kind of stuff. It's a, it seems ridiculous on some level. I get the Monaco thing and I know people like different tennis stars have lived in Monaco to avoid taxes and this and that.
But, and that's a, that's sort of a It's designed for rich people, I guess, that town or that country. It's so small. But it seems so icky.
I think it defines the term, the difference between being right and being effective. And that is in the 90s or 2000s, I should say, Tony Blair passed a series of private property laws and said, I don't care how you made your money. If you bring it to London and invest in businesses or buy a home here, no one can come for it and take it from you.
And so London kind of became the most popular place in Europe and the Gulf to bring money. And quite frankly, it was really good for the UK economy because these are people who invest. They spend a lot of money. They create a lot of usage and VAT tax revenue. They endorse or they patronize the local businesses.
And it theoretically just makes sense in principle to say, OK, you should pay the same tax rates is people here because you're using our infrastructure. But the problem is it's not effective because rich people are very mobile. So it's a tough one because while I understand the logic behind it, the reality is they're going to have less tax revenue for the NHS and for social programs.
Yeah, I get it. I get it. I get it. I just, the Bitcoin ones were so...
unseemly here in in puerto rico i remember the stories i was always felt dirty right you know right because they just they're just terrible people that were you know avoiding taxes and and then a lot of it was but some anyway anyway it's a lovely place i recommend people going there just it is not a garbage island it's beautiful and people are lovely um and they're americans by the way but people always
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Chapter 4: What insights does the Meta tell-all book reveal?
But this has been met by a lot of people whom I know.
trust saying this is not the way it happened that said i think her vibe is absolutely correct this sort of carelessness i think is absolutely true i think uh you know how they go about doing things is true uh the china stuff is really interesting to understand it gives you great insight into the company and that stuff is i think very much the vibe is correct
I also don't know why she waited so long if this was so critical. Of course, that's a Facebook argument, and I don't think it's a wrong one. But I do think Facebook has reacted emotionally on this stuff and has made it into a bestseller, so more people are reading it. Because one of the things, and I told this to someone from Meta, I'm like... They're like, it's not trustworthy.
I said, neither are you. So it's not like we trust Meta when they're actually telling the truth. And that's the problem is that nobody has any trust for this company. And so you assume the worst of them. And in my case, I do think it does hurt for people who are critics of them when things aren't buttoned up. Unfortunately, you have to be super buttoned up with these people. 100%.
And I was supposed to interview her, but there was way too many holes. I didn't feel like slagging her, and I didn't feel like defending Facebook. And I just think she's got the vibe right. She's got the vibe right.
That's for sure. But didn't it feel very sensationalist to you?
It did. I hate to say that, but I really did. And the Sandberg stuff, I'm a little kinder to her than you are. But I can see how that happened and the way she told it isn't correct. I can see Cheryl's very, I would say, sisterly or motherly with her employees. And all tech companies, and Facebook included, are far too familial with their employees.
And especially in the early days, it was like a frat sometimes. Sometimes it was like a family thing. dysfunctional family, for sure. Facebook wasn't as much of a frat as, say, Google was in many ways. And I think there was a familiarity in those companies that has long gone now, but initially was present. And I think all these companies were sort of behaved in ways that HR would just blush at.
And at one point, there was a meta, it was Facebook at the time, person in HR, and they had just gotten there. And I said, what's your job? And she said, I'm the vice president of keeping people from fucking each other. And it was like, I laughed out loud. And Facebook wasn't the worst of them, which is interesting, as I recall. But there was just a familiarity.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of RFK Jr.'s stance on phones in schools?
They're trying to put aside, they're trying to say, okay, one of the wonderful things about being a human and being in America is having the right to present you as you are most comfortable. At the same time, they're also worried that teenagers make bad decisions. And, you know, you could just understand they're really like worried and upset about it.
But the idea that this guy would ever be critical of this kid, they were just, you could just tell how much just how much pain he was feeling because not because he didn't want to have a trans son, but because he wanted his kid to make the right decision and was concerned about his kid. And that's the right. That's what I think it means to be a mother or a father. You default to protection.
And this guy does not default to protection. He is making his daughter's life harder. And that is exactly what it means to not be a man. I mean, this guy is such a terrible role model.
He is saying to other men, because of his incredible achievements, they look up to him and they are going to model him that if your child makes certain decisions you don't agree with, you're going to publicly shame them and make their lives harder. So this is, I mean, this is just so wrong on so many dimensions. And he's just, again, I go back to the same thing.
This guy's the worst fucking thing to happen to young men since porn, since old men deciding to protect their own land, decided to send young men off to war. I mean, there are very few worse influences right now on young men. Then Elon Musk. That's my TED talk.
I would agree. I don't think it's working, though. I have to tell you, my sons make constant. And they used to really like him. I have to say they did. But now they trade back and forth all these videos on Teslas and stuff. And they were horrified by it. His response to the daughter, they thought the daughter was cool. Like the daughter's fucking cool. Like she really is.
And again, what I really liked about it is she understood what she didn't know. And she says like, maybe that'll change. Maybe I'm wrong. Like she had more self-awareness at 20 years old. in a very difficult position than he has had his whole life. So let's just give kudos to her mom, who was quoted in the piece, and I thought was a wonderful piece, essentially calling her daughter magical.
And really, it was a wonderful quote from the mother. And sounds like, and I know Justine a little bit, and it's just really terrific. And thank goodness for that.
I met her at TED. She seemed lovely, smart.
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