All language subtitles for 1 1 Last.Week.Tonight.with.John.Oliver.S13E02.1080p.HEVC

Bye.

Thank you so much for joining us. It has
been a busy week. The Supreme Court

struck down Trump's tariffs, and he met
with his Board of Peace shortly before

going back to pushing the US toward war
with Iran.

But we're actually going to start in the
UK this week, where Thursday brought

some massive news.

This morning, a stunning royal arrest.

Former Prince Andrew taken into custody
from his home in the English

countryside. It follows growing
revelations about the alleged

between the late sex offender Jeffrey
Epstein and Andrew.

It's true, they arrested former Prince
Andrew, and I don't know why they're

still going with alleged connections to
Epstein there, while also running a

photo that makes them look like the two
closest friends I've ever seen. It looks

like they're brainstorming a new
podcast.

It looks like Andrew's soft -launching,
hey, would it be crazy if we moved in

together? I'm just saying, maybe drop
the alleged part when you're dealing

two guys that look so close they could
finish each other's prison sentences.

And if you think you will... What was
the new revelation that did it? Was it

grotesque new photo of Andrew on all
fours over a young woman? Incredibly,

It was apparently this.

The arrest reportedly linked to emails
released by the US Department of Justice

as part of the Epstein files that show
Andrew forwarding emails to Epstein

he was trade envoy.

The emails, some dated in 2010, well
after Epstein had already been convicted

soliciting sex from a minor, show Andrew
forwarding British government files

from his trips to places like Hong Kong
and Vietnam.

Yeah, they got him on forwarding
documents, which is a little

though. To be honest, when it comes to
bringing down monsters, I don't really

care if it's for a boring computer
crime. The same way I'm not that mad if

finally ends a toddler throwing a
tantrum is a cardboard box. The method

matter. What's important is you have
been stopped.

Now, Andrew has repeatedly denied all
wrongdoing and has been released,

that does not mean he's been found not
guilty.

All we really have to go on right now is
this...

Fantastic picture of him leaving
custody. And you can draw your own

there. Reasonable people can disagree on
whether this makes him look guilty or

dead. And I've got to say, even him
being taken into custody this week must

been gratifying for some, including
anyone who's ever had to work for him.

Because to hear at least one former
officer who was assigned to guard

wasn't the greatest to be around.

Did Prince Andrew have a nickname at
that time?

Well, his official code, so if he was to
come into the palace, he would call

someone Purple41.

But he did have a nickname, but it's a
bit rude for me to tell you, and I'll

tell you, but you're not going to be
able to air it. It was just called... Do

you want me to tell you?

Yeah.

It was called The Cunt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

According to that guy.

That was Andrew's unofficial nickname.

And it's a little weird he was so wary
of saying that word on TV, given he was

appearing on Australia's 60 Minutes.

And Australians say cunt all the time.
I'm pretty sure Bluey said it at least

three times.

But it's not... Just codename cunts here
facing consequences. Take Peter

Mandelson, the UK's former ambassador to
DC.

He's also under police investigation for
forwarding government emails to

Epstein, something he's denied. And
there are also questions about how close

they were, especially given the sheer
number of photos of them together,

including this recently released one of
him in his underwear, seemingly in

Epstein's apartment.

And the very fact Prime Minister Keir
Starmer appointed Mandelson ambassador

the first place is now a major scandal.

His Chief of Staff and Communications
Director... have resigned, and it may

stop there.

The fallout is now directly threatening
the Prime Minister.

Keir Starmer has admitted to Parliament
he knew of Mandelson's past association

with Epstein, but that he had not been
told the truth about the extent of the

relationship. The admission has sparked
a furious backlash, including from

members of Starmer's own party, who are
openly questioning his judgment and his

leadership. Right, because that shows
terrible judgment.

A crucial part of leadership is who you
pick to be on your team. If the Raiders

decided at this year's NFL draft to use
their number one pick to select Roman

Polanski...

Everyone involved in that decision
should probably be fired. But here in

there's been a notable lack of
consequences for several high -profile

who've appeared in the files. Most
notably, this guy is still president.

also, his Commerce Secretary Howard
Lutnick, Epstein's former next -door

neighbour, by the way, has come under
scrutiny because he previously said he

Epstein only once in 2005 and was so
revolted he declared, I will never be in

the room with that disgusting person
ever again.

But new documents reveal not only were
they in touch after that, Lutnick

actually visited Epstein's Island,
something he tried to justify like this.

I did have lunch with him as I was on a
boat going across on a family vacation.

My wife was with me, as were my four
children and nannies. We were on family

vacation. We were not apart.

To suggest there was anything untoward
about that in 2012, I don't recall why

did it, but...

Okay, to be clear, there was a lot
untoward about meeting Epstein in 2012.

He'd left jail three years earlier as a
sex offender, and it was widely known

what kind of guy he was at that time.
And it's not a great look, but it seems

the end of Lutnick's sentence, I will
never be in a room with that disgusting

person again, was apparently, unless
that is, I can bring my kids.

But Lutnick is still in his job. And, by
the way, is Peter Atiyah, who CBS News

had only just hired as part of their new
roster of contributors when the files

were released. And the details about him
in there are great.

The celebrity longevity influencer
appears in the files more than 1 ,700

In 2015, Atiyah wrote, The biggest
problem with becoming friends with you,

life you lead is so outrageous, and yet
I cannot tell a soul.

Oh! And that is not close to the worst
of it, because Atiyah also apparently

wrote to Epstein's assistant saying, I
go into J .E. withdrawal when I don't

him, and wrote to Epstein directly
saying that, and I quote, pussy is

-carb, still waiting results on gluten
content, though.

Now, Atiyah's apologised for those
emails and has stepped down as Chief

Officer of the protein bar company,
David, following these revelations. But

incredibly, as of taping, CBS News still
seems to be keeping him on as a

contributor. And it is wild that CBS
News somehow has lower standards than a

protein bar company.

That markets their products like this,
and also like this. And I'm not sure who

at that company thought their bars
needed to be 80s horny, but I hope

gone too.

And look, I'm not saying Atiyah or
Lutnik have committed crimes, but it is

clear... Just how comfortable far too
many people were looking past Epstein's

heinous actions. And given the lack of
accountability in all this, there's at

least some satisfaction in knowing just
how nervous some powerful men must be

feeling right now. A nervousness that's
kind of hard to put into words. But

luckily, I think this picture sums it up
pretty well.

And now, this.

And now, people on TV celebrate National
Drink Wine Day.

Today is National Drink Wine Day.

It is recommended, friends, to drink in
moderation.

So one glass that's this big.

It's Ash Wednesday.

I'm Catholic.

They serve wine at Mass.

Because of Lent, make sure you eat fish
today. So E .P. Micah hooked me up. I

don't really know if this is a hookup,
guys, but he hooked me up with some fish

sticks and some generic wine. It is Ash
Wednesday.

I think this is interesting.

That it coincides with National Drink
Wine Day. Kind of is, isn't it?

Is it?

Yeah. This is nice rosé for the day. How
is it?

It's very good. It's good.

National Wine Day. Oh, it is good. It
tastes different at 6 .45am.

Moving on. Our main story tonight
concerns Twitter, or as it's been called

Elon Musk purchased it a few years ago,
Twitter.

It's a site... With exactly one good
account left, Gerald Stratford, a

British man who delights followers with
his giant vegetables.

I've just cut this big cabbage.

It's a PB for me. I haven't got any
scales big enough to weigh it, but I'm

worried about that. It's a beautiful
specimen.

Yeah, it is, Gerald.

And I, for one, am glad that you cut
that cabbage. To be honest, I haven't

this jazzed to see a cabbage broken in
half since my wedding night.

Twitter has clearly changed
significantly in recent years. And you

the moment that started, because it's
today in October 2022, when Elon tweeted

video of himself carrying a sink into
Twitter headquarters, writing, let that

sink in. A joke so funny, I'm still
laughing right now.

And he quickly made it clear that the
company was going to be different. He

changed Twitter's name to X, announced
an extremely hardcore cultural reset,

by his count said he'd cut about 80 %...

of Twitter's staff. And to hear Elon
tell it, he did it to protect free

and correct for what many conservatives
considered a left -wing bias. In fact,

as far as he was concerned, nothing less
than the fate of the world was at

stake. The reason for acquiring Twitter
is because it was causing

destruction at a civilizational level.
You know, like Wormtongue from Lord of

the Rings, where he would just sort of
whisper these...

you know, terrible things to the king,
so the king would believe these things

that weren't true.

And they were pushing a nihilistic, anti
-civilizational mind virus to the

world. Okay.

For the record, Twitter's not a good
analogue for Wormtongue at all, and I'm

guessing I don't need to explain why,
given the Venn diagram between viewers

this show and people familiar with
second -tier Lord of the Rings

I'm pretty sure, a single circle as
round, in fact, as the outermost wall of

Minas Tirith.

For what Elon's embrace of so -called
free speech has actually resulted in is

much darker. One study found an
approximately 50 % increase in posts

hate speech.

And recently, you may have heard about
the platform's struggles with Grok's

image editing tool, which has allowed
users to create digitally altered

sexualized photos of real people,
including minors. And look, no one is

saying... Twitter was perfect before
Elon arrived. It helped platform a lot

ugliness, including, but not limited to,
our first shitpost of president.

But it is genuinely worse now. And you
might think, you... already know how bad

it is, or that it doesn't matter to you
because you're no longer on it. But I

promise, it's actually worse than you
think, for reasons you may not know, and

in ways that will unfortunately impact
all of us. So given that, tonight, let's

talk about Twitter. Let's start with
some of the most visible changes Elon's

made. One of his first involved the
site's verification system, which used

assign a blue checkmark to anyone well
-known enough that they might need an

official sign that they were who they
said they were. Elon replaced that with

system where anyone can get a blue
check. They simply became a premium user

paid $8 a month. And that led to
instant, albeit very funny, chaos.

All of a sudden, scrollers saw LeBron
James asking for a trade. Oil company

British Petroleum admitting it killed
the planet. And drug manufacturer Eli

Lilly offering insulin for free.

It's true. Fake accounts sprung up all
over the place. Fake George Bush said he

missed killing Iraqis.

to which fake Tony Blair said, same PBH.

Fake OJ Simpson said, not gonna lie, I
did that shit.

And a fake American Girl doll account
said, Felicity owns slaves, continuing,

I'm not even lying, look it up.

Now, Elon eventually added new grey and
gold check marks to help verify some

official accounts, and while I'm not
sure exactly which fake tweets made him

that, if I had to guess, it'd be this
one from a fake Tesla account that said,

our cars do not respect school zone
speed limits.

fuck them kids so already the site was
much less reliable because it was harder

to tell who was trustworthy but on top
of that Elon took an axe to the site's

ability to deal with harmful content by,
among other things, slashing its global

trust and safety staff, including
reducing its full -time content

over 50%. He also started restoring a
lot of accounts that had been banned for

violating the platform's policies on
things like abusive behaviour and

violence. He memorably brought back this
guy, as well as Alex Jones, Andrew

Tate, Nick Fuentes, and UK anti
-immigrant crusader Tommy Robertson,

believe is known as a nightmare anything
rotation.

And that was just the beginning.

Twitter accounts belonging to far -right
activists and QAnon theorists have been

reinstated, according to data reviewed
by NBC News.

Hundreds of formerly banned users now
back on the platform after a

tweet that amnesty begins next week.

Yeah, he basically reinstated a bunch of
accounts, including white supremacy,

and announced it on Thanksgiving.

which, when you think about it, is
actually pretty thematically appropriate

the holiday.

And when you take all of that together,
it is no wonder the site became a

fertile breeding ground for hatred and
misinformation, and much less reliable

when it came to tracking breaking news.

One of the first clear signs of that
came in the wake of the October 7th

in Israel. Previously, at a moment like
that, people might look to Twitter for

information from journalists and other
credible people on the scene.

But a ton of misinformation circulated
there, often from accounts boasting

misleading blue checks.

This video of a grieving boy supposedly
from Gaza went viral, even though it was

from at least nine years earlier and was
taken in Syria.

And this clip supposedly of Israeli
rockets exploding was actually from a

military simulation video game. The
account that posted that, by the way,

conveniently titled Israel Mossad, had
gone from fewer than 1 ,000 followers

when it first acquired a blue check in
September 2023 to more than 230 ,000.

And that wasn't the only big change,
because Twitter also started paying so

-called creators on the site. Currently,
if you're a premium user, meaning you

pay for a blue check, you can get paid
for your post, and your revenue is

dependent on how many other premium
users reply to, repost, and like your

content. And that has served some users
pretty well, like this guy who posted

his freedom uncut online and was on
Twitter a lot.

He says he spends up to 16 hours a day
on X.

sharing AI -generated pictures like
these and streaming.

While some of these posts are obviously
satirical, others are less fantastical.

It's the more provocative content that
gets views, he tells me. It's kind of

interesting because the balance between
free speech and

saying stuff that you know is either
untrue or you just say it in a very

way to egg people on.

is an interesting era that we're in. I
know people that are making the pay

periods every two weeks, and I know
people that are in the thousand plus

Look, it is not the most important thing
there, but it is genuinely incredible

to me that people can make money posting
matrix memes of Trump that read, I can

dodge bullets, not least because that's
something. And not to be a fact bitch

here, Trump didn't entirely do. If we're
just...

Going to be sticklers about it. And
look, over $1 ,000 every two

weeks is clearly a good payday just for
posting. Usually to make that kind of

money online, you need to be running a
crypto scam or selling feet pics. And

even that is only realistic for those of
us who happen to be born with

irresistible feet. I will show you, but
honey, I don't do that for free.

And some accounts...

particularly on the far right have even
made more like the anonymous end

wokeness which once tweeted wow elon
musk wasn't kidding content monetization

real with a screenshot showing earnings
of over ten thousand dollars now i

should say most accounts don't make that
much but even relatively small amounts

can be an incentive if say you live in
another country where the cost of living

is lower. And that may help explain the
somewhat awkward revelations that came

last year when Twitter suddenly allowed
people to see accounts' location

information.

The ex -account MAGA Nation, with nearly
400 ,000 followers, boasts itself as

standing strong with President Trump and
America first, with post after post

backing Trump.

But one click shows it's based in
Eastern Europe. Even President Trump

reposting several accounts that are not
from the United States on his truth

social platform.

Like this account called Commentary
Donald Trump, posting about whether

-born citizens should be barred from
running for office.

the account itself based in Africa.

Yeah, and that is not all. An account
called UltraMagaTrump2028, claiming to

based in D .C., was also listed as being
in Africa. The account MagaNadeen was

based in Morocco, and the user
AtAmerican was based in Pakistan.

Which is pretty surprising. Finding out
an account called AtAmerican is based

outside the U .S. is kind of like
finding out that the person who runs

David Attenborough. I mean, sure,
it's...

Not illegal, and I guess maybe the
passion could be real, but it certainly

changes how I think about things.

The point is, there is an ecosystem of
people, both here and abroad, who've

discovered you can make money off of
pissed Americans staring at their

And to be clear, none of the changes
I've mentioned so far involved secret

tweaks to Twitter's algorithm.

They just involved changing who could
post and what their incentives were.

As for what happened behind the
scenes... That is harder to say, though

who've run experiments on the site have
made some troubling discoveries.

Last year, Sky News created a number of
accounts emulating British Twitter

users. Three were left -wing users,
three were right -wing, and three were

neutral, designed to show no interest in
politics.

And when they tracked the content each
was pushed by Twitter's algorithm, their

findings were striking.

The result was that every account, no
matter their political orientation, was

fed a glut of right -wing content.
Remember our left -wing users.

This shows what they saw on the
platform, and more than 40 % came from

-wing accounts.

Compare that to our right -wing users,
and look, they saw much less left -wing

content and a lot of right -wing
content.

And then the neutral users, who we
designed not to show any interest in

politics. They saw twice as much right
-wing content in the pink here than they

did left -wing in yellow.

And that clearly suggests that something
is up.

even if we don't know the exact
algorithm changes that were made. It's

a redditor found that statistically,
James Harden's poor performance during

games correlates with them happening in
cities with highly rated strip clubs.

Now, can we make concrete statements
about causality there? Of course we

but the data is making some loud
suggestions.

Now, I have to say, X has announced a
new update to Twitter's algorithm, which

they've dubbed as purely AI -led,
although...

Given Elon has a history of trying to
make his AI chatbot Grok less woke,

leading to it at one point calling
itself Mecha -Hitler, I'm not sure how

reassuring that is.

Also, Elon's definitely shown a
willingness to tweak Twitter's algorithm

drive certain kinds of content, and
sometimes for truly embarrassing

There's a notorious incident involving
him going to the Super Bowl in 2023 and

having a problem with one of his tweets,
and I'll let this reporter fill you in.

He tweets out...

basically as support for the
Philadelphia Eagles.

I think his tweet was something like, go
Eagles, with a few American flags on

it.

Biden, around the same time, posts a
somewhat similar tweet.

Fly, Eagles, fly. And it's a video of
his wife, Jill Biden, who's walking with

an Eagles jersey on.

The game goes on. Elon Musk checks his
phone.

It looks like Joe Biden, who he's called
a damp sock puppet in human form, is

doing much better than he is in terms of
engagement on this very similar tweet.

At 2 .36 a .m., she says an urgent
message went out and roughly 80

were pulled into work.

And they're tasked with fixing the
issues with the algorithm.

That's true.

Elon's tweets got less engagement than
Biden's did, so 80 engineers were called

in at 2 in the morning and told, this is
high urgency.

And of course his tweet flopped. It was
terrible. First, don't use American

flags when eagle emojis exist. But also,
eagles?

Why call them by their government name?
Just post, go birds, eagle emojis, Jalen

Hurts can give me a tush -push any day,
and you'd have cracked a million likes

instantly. Now...

Reporters later learned that after Musk
threatened to fire his remaining

engineers, they built a system designed
to ensure that he, and he alone,

benefited from previously unheard of
promotion of his tweets to the entire

base. Which seems to be happening.

As basically, whatever Elon's tweeting
about, people will see it in their feet.

When Fortune conducted an experiment to
gauge how prevalent Musk was on Twitter,

they set up a dozen different test
accounts.

And in approximately 90 % of the
sessions they conducted, a post from

appeared at least once in the timeline,
usually much more often. And even

clicking not interested in Elon Musk
didn't change things. In fact, after one

test account clicked exactly that, posts
from him more than doubled.

At this point, it seems like there's
only one option if you never want to

anything from Elon Musk, and that's to
be his coolest child.

And Twitter summing the scale toward
Elon's interest is bad for multiple

reasons, not limited to his god -awful
jokes, his history of invoking extreme

ideas like the anti -Semitic Great
Replacement Theory, and the fact he was

apparently a driver of US election
misinformation in 2024.

But perhaps the biggest cause for
concern...

is the fact that our current government
is troublingly dependent on Elon's

platform. The Trump administration is
painfully online, and particularly on

Twitter. J .D. Barnes has said that he's
a grok guy.

Cash Patel repeatedly fumbled FBI
investigations by prematurely announcing

suspects on Twitter. And this photo of
the makeshift situation room during the

.S. military operation in Venezuela
showed a Twitter feed with Venezuela in

search bar.

And I'm not sure anything can inspire
less confidence than that, other than

Google results for who is Venezuela.

And at best, the consequences of doing
this are that the government just ends

doing dumb stuff.

Like when someone on Twitter seemed to
convince Elon that the gold inside Fort

Knox might be missing.

The Washington Post traced it back to
this tweet, suggesting he take a look to

make sure... It was still there. Musk
replied, surely it's reviewed every

To which the account responded, it
should be, it isn't. Just two days

Musk tweeted, it would be cool to do a
live video walkthrough of Fort Knox. And

not long after that, this came out of
the mouth of the President of the United

States. We're actually going to Fort
Knox to see if the gold is there.

Because maybe somebody stole the gold.

Tons of gold.

Okay.

Well, let us know, I guess.

Honestly, I know it's probably not a
great use of taxpayer money, but I think

I'd be okay if he spent the rest of his
presidency trying to solve low -stakes

mysteries he found on Twitter.

Visiting Fort Knox because someone said
the gold might be missing, or pouring

around in the White House garden with a
magnifying glass because Kourtney

Kardashian once tweeted, do ants have
dicks?

It wouldn't be the worst use of his
time.

Anything that keeps him busy, really.

But wild gold chases are the best -case
scenario here, because we've talked

before about how misinformation on
Twitter led to actual spending cuts

Elon's time at Doge. But it goes well
beyond that.

A nominee for a senior administration
post recently told The New Yorker, if we

have something that's popular in right
-wing Twitter, the White House is acting

on it 90 -plus percent of the time.

And Trump appointees like Harmeet
Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General

Civil Rights, will sometimes openly brag
about taking work cues from social

media. I have a big social media
following from before I joined the DOJ

about 1 .5 million plus followers
online. It is a way to find information.

Today, I don't actually watch television
very much. I'm not, you know, I don't

have the TV on in the background because
TV is like 12 to 24 hours behind what's

really happening.

And when the modern day journalist
heroes who are the Nick Shirley's and,

know, the Matt Taimi's and some of these
others who, you know, right or left,

they're the ones who are getting the.
leads and sharing the stories in real

those are the ones i pay attention to
and where we get our attention on

something our libs of tiktok is also a
great source for some of our issues

involving schools or employment we do
open up investigations based on internet

leads and i i am proud of that okay
first bragging about your twitter

is just embarrassing and again Even
worse would you learn that last

Dylan tweeted, I've been stuck at pretty
much the same level of followers on

this account since I started my
government job.

What am I, chopped liver over here?

What kind of content do my folks want to
see more of to like and share?

To which I'd respond, I guess I'd love
to see a resignation letter if you're

taking requests.

But also, it's a little hard.

To hear her complain about a lack of
followers, given she routinely pumps out

duds like this recent one, on the road,
timeline cleanse knitting, after a day

of hard work, cash me a hat for a man.

And this one, also about a hat, but in
which she throws in the arse slur for

good measure. And what the fuck is that?

That is a hard unfollow for me, for the
Assistant Attorney General for Civil

Rights. But there are obvious issues.

with the government taking cues from
accounts that Dylan Justice described.

Because some are posting deeply
irresponsible rage bait. Take a guy that

just mentioned there, Nick Shirley.

He's the 23 -year -old right -wing
influencer behind a viral investigation

Minnesota daycares posted in December.

They were actually playing a clip of it
during her interview there. Shirley

posted it on YouTube first, but it
quickly went viral on Twitter, where

far garnered over 140 million views.
It's worth knowing just how flimsy it

For context, allegations of social
services fraud in Minnesota, some of it

Somali Americans, have been the subject
of federal investigations and mainstream

media coverage for years now. Dozens of
people have already been convicted as a

result, with some investigations still
ongoing.

Still! Nick Shirley decided to do some
investigating of his own by showing up

daycares, demanding to see proof kids
went there, and in some instances,

if he could enrol his non -existent
child.

When he wasn't able to do that, he
concluded the businesses were front. It

truly ridiculous stunt, and he sort of
acknowledged when pressed on it by an

actual reporter.

But surely you don't think a daycare
should just be unlocked.

You shouldn't be able to just walk into
a daycare. It should be a reception.

No. Every daycare is locked.

And so, okay, you bring up a fair point.
But why can't they actually give me

information how to enroll a child?

Okay, first, I love the slight pause
there after Shirley was told daycares

not typically open to strangers with
cameras. Just the slow realization that

locked door is one of the basic things.

Every daycare should have, along with
crayons, interlocking foam tiles, tiny

tables and chairs, and so many germs,
every part of the insides will be coated

with a plem for the next two years
straight.

That is what daycares are.

But also, if you really want the latest
right -wing rallying cry to be, daycare

should have a guest reception for random
men without children who just want to

poke around and film some shit.

I'd love to see how that turns out for
you. Now, you won't be surprised to

that state investigators conducted
compliance checks after Shirley's video

viral and found that the day care
services were operating as expected and

kids were present at all sites except
for one, and that is only because it

wasn't yet open for families for the day
when inspectors arrived.

But the thing is, it was already too
late.

Because Elon absolutely loved that dumb
video. He tweeted, retweeted, and

engaged with a truly absurd number of
posts about it or the claims that it

in the days after the video went online.
And unsurprisingly, the Trump

administration took notice.

The day after it was posted, J .D.
Barnes tweeted about it, saying it was

useful journalism than any of the
winners of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes,

given one of them focused on tactics
authoritarian regimes used to repress

dissent in the digital age, feels a bit
on the nose.

Two days after that, Kristi Noem posted
a clip of ICE agents apparently

conducting a massive investigation into
childcare fraud in Minneapolis.

And the next day, Trump's then Deputy
Secretary at HHS posted on Twitter,

tagging Nick Shirley and including this
video that was then retweeted by HHS.

Intrepid journalists have made shocking
and credible allegations of extensive

fraud in Minnesota's childcare programs.

We believe the state of Minnesota has
allowed scammers and fake daycares to

siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over
the past decade.

Wow, look, I know it is distracting
because that man is hot as shit.

But if you can listen to his words
through the smoke show going on there,

they're actually very worrying.

In that post, they announced they've
frozen funding to Minnesota.

and then quickly tried expanding that to
encompass five Democratic -run states.

And within two weeks, the Trump
administration sent thousands of federal

to Minnesota to crack down on illegal
immigration.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that
a lot of the shit you saw in Minnesota

was caused, at least in part, by this
fucking tweet.

The point here is Twitter has become a
sewer of misinformation with the power

bring about troubling real -world
impacts. To be clear...

This is now a problem that goes far
beyond this administration or this

Because you see just how dangerous what
Elon's built can be. We actually have to

look at England. In 2024, in a town
called Southport, three young girls were

killed in a knife attack. It was
horrific.

In the immediate aftermath, there was
almost no public information available

about the attacker. But nevertheless, a
Twitter account called Europe Invasion,

known to publish anti -immigrant and
Islamophobic content, baselessly

the suspect was a Muslim immigrant. By
the time the killer was identified as a

non -Muslim, British citizen, born to
parents from Rwanda, it was already too

late, as mobs were forming.

And after a vigil for the victims,
violence broke out near a local mosque,

people throwing bricks, bottles and
other missiles at it. And the imam there

still seemed stunned by the speed with
which it all accelerated.

We start getting...

messages from friends and neighbors and
saying there is a lot of people accusing

the attacker of being a Muslim.

And then it's moving from there. They
said he is coming to this mosque.

And then it moved from there very
quickly. We're talking about within half

hour. It became that we coerced him into
doing what he did.

Did you ever expect that it would end
up?

that hatred would end up outside your
mosque. Never.

That is terrible. And given the killer
wasn't a member of that mosque, or

Muslim, of course you wouldn't expect a
hate mob to show up. It makes literally

as much sense as a mob showing up at a
Taco Bell to protest the results of an

Orlando Magic game. Hey, guys, those two
things are unrelated. You got some bad

intel. Go home, you fucking idiots.

But from there, the riots spread
nationwide.

with mobs targeting mosques and hotels,
housing asylum seekers, and leading to

what's been called the worst unrest the
UK has seen in more than a decade. And

it was significantly fuelled by Twitter,
with false or unfounded claims about

the Southport attacker getting at least
155 million impressions in the days

after the attack. And when the police
there eventually made arrests for

racial hatred, one of the men convicted
happened to be earning £1 ,400 a month.

from his activities on the site. And it
is hard to deny Twitter's role as, at

the very least, an accelerant.

Two of the major voices spreading
dangerous misinformation were Andrew

Tommy Robinson, who, remember, Elon
reinstated to the platform. And Elon

was acting as a sort of amplifier to the
point that he replied to one post about

the attacks with, civil war is
inevitable.

And it's not like some of the key
participants have denied how... critical

Twitter's role has been.

Robertson's far -right movement picked
up significant steam in the wake of

Southport. And here he is, not long
after the riot, giving credit where he

it's due.

Look what we've achieved in six months.
We've gone from through the roof, thanks

to Elon Musk, built a cult movement,
ready, inspired many.

And we're ready.

Yeah, not great. And if that wasn't bad
enough... Robinson actually hosted an

anti -immigration Unite the Kingdom
rally in London last year, and you'll

guess who he managed to get as a special
guest.

The huge crowds in Westminster didn't
sign out just for Tommy Robinson.

They're also chanting someone else's
name.

Elon Musk joining in from America.

Whether you choose violence or not,
violence is coming to you.

You either fight back or you die.

Okay. Saying fight back or die to that
crowd is so malevolent I can barely wrap

my head around it. And I've got to say,
what he's doing there sure does seem

like a strong case of, if I may quote
Elon himself, someone whispering

things, things that weren't true, and
they're pushing a nihilistic, anti

-civilisational mind virus to the world.
It is worm -tongue coded, at least, is

what I am saying here.

And look, this is typically where I trot
out my hit catchphrase, what can we do?

You know it, people go crazy when I say
it. It's on t -shirts now and I can't

walk down the street without people
begging me to say it to them. But right

unfortunately, there's not much we can
push for by way of solutions. The fact

is, a massive media platform has been
shaped in the image of its poisonous

owner. And it doesn't seem like Elon's
going to see the error of his ways any

time soon, seeing his... brain seems to
be thoroughly cooked by the garbage he

consumes on his own site. To be honest,
he still doesn't seem to have a coherent

vision of exactly what Twitter should be
because just watch this recent

interview where he offers a pretty grand
vision for it but then gets tripped up

by the most basic follow -up question
imaginable and I promise this answer is

much worse than you are prepared for.

I just want to really have a global
platform that brings together

Like I said, it becomes close to sort of
a collective consciousness of humanity

as possible.

And why is that important, Elon,
collective consciousness, to have one

I guess... Why is that important?

I guess it's...

You can also say, like, why... You know,
if you consider humans, like, humans

are composed of around 30 to 40 trillion
cells.

And, you know, there's trillions of
synapses in your mind.

But there's not... The why of it, I
guess, is just so we can...

increase our understanding, our
understanding, increase our, our

understanding of the universe?

You know, at first, I thought that was
embarrassing, what with the full 10

seconds where Elon's brain seemed to
buffer like it's loading a video on AOL

1999, but then I saw the little drawing
labeled 30 to 40 trillion cells, and it

all totally made sense.

So it seems like the odds of Elon fixing
this are pretty slim, meaning all we

can really control is how we each
interact with Twitter. And I know that

are some out there who think it's
important to stay on it, to be part of

town square, although given that town
square now resembles, if anything, this,

I'm not sure much good faith debate is
taking place there.

My personal advice is not to post on it
at all. I haven't done that in over a

year, although I will be going back
there tomorrow to post a link to this

before going silent again and
prioritising my OnlyFans.

And look, I know people have their own
reasons for staying on Twitter, though

for what it's worth, a lot of what it
does... can be replicated elsewhere. If

you want to stay in touch with friends
or contacts, maybe try and connect with

them somewhere else. If you spend most
of your time sending your significant

other memes and funny posts, there are
other sites where you can find those,

also maybe put your phone down and take
your wife out to dinner. It's been a

long time since you went out without the
kids.

And if you just want to watch arguments,
may I recommend the Real Housewives

franchise's The Shakespeare of the
Modern Age. All I'll say is, there are

certain areas, like news in particular,
where Twitter is now worse than useless.

In fact, for breaking news, it is an
active liability, as people routinely

out false information in the wake of
tragedies and crises, often for money,

there don't seem to be many guardrails
to stop them. All of which is really a

long way of saying that the Twitter that
we may have once relied on and the

Twitter that was fun and occasionally
useful is just well and truly gone.

And collectively, while it might be
sad...

It might be parsnip for all of us too,
if I may borrow a truly poisoned phrase.

Let that sink in.

That's our show. Thanks so much for
watching. We'll see you next week.

Good night.

How about this for a parsnip?

Straight out of my raised bed.

The raised bed is from there down to
there.

And the parsnip is gone from top to
bottom.

We'll enjoy that today.

Oh, it's beautiful. We love parsnips in
lots of different ways.

Sure.