Twitter will “continue to experiment” with its audio platform Spaces to give political candidates a chance to connect with an audience, despite technical glitches in a high-profile event, said David Sacks, who moderated the discussion between Elon Musk and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday.
Sacks, a general partner at venture capital firm Craft Ventures, acknowledged the conversation got off to a rocky start, but said it went well after they moved from Musk’s account to his own. “If your viewers go on Twitter now and go listen to the recording, I think they’re going to wonder what all the fuss is about,” he said on Bloomberg TV Thursday. “When we started a room on my account, we worked perfectly,”
The Twitter Spaces event is intended to kick off DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign. More than 500,000 people waited for more than 20 minutes for the event to start, and people trying to participate were often turned away. DeSantis and Musk joked that they broke the internet.
The malfunction was widely mocked online and Sacks failed to challenge DeSantis on key points such as his fight with Walt Disney Co., or restrictions on what schools teach about race or sexuality, as well as the decision to only allow candidate supporters to ask questions. Sacks defended the discussion, saying that it was completely done after the initial failure and that the one-hour conversation was not enough to cover every issue.
“We tried to ask him about some tough questions,” Sacks said.
Sacks blamed the time limit for not being able to bring up DeSantis’ controversial views on abortion. “I think it’s an important issue and he needs to address that,” Sacks said. “We cannot cover every issue in this town hall. We’ve covered a lot of issues, and we still feel like we’ve only scratched the surface. I think there are other opportunities for the candidate to address that. “
Sacks said, “Twitter really wants to be an open platform, a town hall that candidates can use.”