Republican Ron DeSantis broke away from traditional mainstream media and chose to announce his 2024 presidential candidacy via Twitter. But the internet had other plans|Gage Skidmore|CC BY-SA 2.0
In what could have been a huge moment yesterday for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, last night turned out to be a great disaster for both.
The Twitter Spaces launch of the Florida governor’s 2024 bid for the White House was marred by tech issues like continuous audio-drop and garbled audio (a big deal for an audio-only event) as the platform servers couldn’t handle the pressure of 660,000+ listeners tuning in.
The event marked the first time a major candidate announced their run for president on social media.
Listeners had to wait through more than 25 minutes of dead air and hot-mic whispers before they finally heard, “I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback.”
Mocking DeSantis’s disastrous campaign launch, former president Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!”