Elon Musk’s X wants to take a bite out of LinkedIn—but the reverse may be happening

It’s unsurprising to see Elon Musk’s social network making this one of its early steps toward being an “everything app,” given that its first acquisition under his ownership was reportedly that of recruitment startup Laskie, back in May.

On the face of it, this could be a winning augmentation for X. If the platform continues to be a major hub for general activity, organizations’ recruitment ads could catch the eyes of many people who may not even be actively seeking a new role.

However, that’s a big “if.” X is becoming decreasingly useful for those seeking the expert insights that used to make Twitter hum, with comments under many posts dominated by low-value contributions from those who have purchased the site’s blue tick, and therefore get pushed to the top.

Musk’s operation also has a growing reputation for toxicity (he now wants to get rid of the block button, which will make harassment far easier) and for bias toward the right side of the political spectrum (as exemplified by the return of mug-shot-toting former President Donald Trump last Thursday). Even if organizations are sticking around for now, many left-leaning or marginalized users have fled, reducing the diversity of the potential talent pool on offer.

Some of those users have gone to new Twitter clones such as Bluesky, but there seems to be a growing trend in Microsoft-owned LinkedIn—which has recruitment as its beating heart—being a big beneficiary of Twitter/X’s decline. A recent Nature survey suggested LinkedIn was the second most popular social media refuge for scientists who have fled X, and, with many people now using it to share personal as well as professional updates, Bloomberg last week carried the astonishing headline: “Sorry, but LinkedIn is cool now.”

Given how cringey and inauthentic LinkedIn posts often are, I think Axios’s Emily Peck is probably right to say this is more a sign of the social media age being “well past its prime” than anything else. But if X really is trying to steal some of LinkedIn’s lunch now, LinkedIn taking a bite out of X would certainly be a richly ironic scenario.

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David Meyer

NEWSWORTHY

Google beats Republican complaint. The Republican National Committee has lost its lawsuit against Google, which it accused of illegally suppressing its emails by redirecting them to Gmail users’ spam folders. According to the Washington Post, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Calabretta called it a “close case,” but even if the RNC were able to prove bad faith—which it didn’t—Google would probably be shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Xpeng’s new EV assets. Xpeng, a Chinese electric-vehicle firm that recently scored a $700 million investment from Volkswagen, is buying the “smart EV” assets of Didi, the ride-hailing company, for $744 million. These assets will become a new sub-brand called Mona, which TechCrunch predicts Didi might promote to its customers as a preferred option, thus giving still-relatively-small Xpeng a big boost.

BYD’s bet. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Chinese EV giant BYD’s electronics arm is shelling out $2.2 billion on the local manufacturing business of U.S.-based Jabil, which should help BYD Electronics advance in the smartphone components business.

ON OUR FEED

“Bring back Twitter!”

—Spectators at the Valorant Champions Tour Grand Finals, chanting at and booing Elon Musk, who attended the e-sports event with his young son

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Silicon Valley elites want to build a new city outside San Francisco—and have invested nearly $1 billion into a project acquiring land, by Bloomberg

Elon Musk’s SpaceX discriminated against refugees and asylum grantees, DOJ claims, by the Associated Press

An A.I. model faced off against 24 graduate students in a test of creativity—here’s how it scored, by Eric Guzik

OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky just got a $338 million dividend payout—and the platform shows no signs of slowing, by Prarthana Prakash

BEFORE YOU GO

Foxconn founder’s presidential bid. Terry Gou, founder of Apple’s biggest supplier Foxconn, has announced he is running as an independent for Taiwan’s presidency. As Fortune’s Nicholas Gordon explains, Gou has twice failed to win the nomination of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang Party. He now requires the endorsement of 290,000 Taiwanese voters to officially enter the race, where he may split the vote against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Gou is all for close ties with the Chinese mainland, where Foxconn’s main interests lie. (Gou stepped back from the iPhone manufacturer four years ago but remains its biggest shareholder.) “I shall never let Taiwan be the next Ukraine,” he said. “I can guarantee that I’ll bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait.”