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TechScape: Elon Musk’s global political goals

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, technology news editor at the Guardian US. Today in TechScape I’m deciphering Elon Musk’s global political goals, a remarkable documentary filmed within World of Warcraft, polling on support for school phone bans, and cats on TikTok. Thank you for joining me. First, let’s talk about Musk’s global politics.

Over the weekend, Musk pledged to give away $1m a day to registered voters in battleground states in the US who sign his Pac’s petition in support of the first and second amendments. He awarded the first prize, a novelty check the size of a kitchen island, at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday and the second on Sunday in Pittsburgh. He says he’ll keep doing it until the election on 5 November. The stunt is potentially illegal, experts say.

Why is Musk doing this? What does he want?

My colleagues Nick Robins-Early and Rachel Leingang published a piece last week looking at Musk’s inescapable influence on the US presidential election. The article dives into the past several months of Musk’s political activities, but I was particularly fascinated by one question it posed: is deregulation the driving motivation behind Musk’s political endeavors across the globe? Is all this spending and campaigning about cutting government departments?

These constant fights with the full alphabet of regulatory agencies has coincided with Musk making numerous public statements in favor of deregulation, as well as calling for a full-scale audit of the federal government. That idea has found purchase with Trump, who announced in September that he would launch a Musk-led government efficiency commission that would audit federal agencies for places to cut. Musk wants to call it the Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, invoking one of his favorite memes, an expressive shiba inu.

a tweet by elon musk with cartoon versions of musk, trump, a shiba inu dog and the word ‘doge’

Although the plan is vague on details and fails to address the obvious conflict of interest in Musk auditing the regulators that oversee his companies, both Trump and Musk have repeatedly brought up the idea of Musk holding some role in a potential Trump administration. During an appearance on Fox News earlier this week, Trump said that he would create a new position called “secretary of cost-cutting” and appoint Musk.

“He’s dying to do this,” Trump said.

Musk’s fight for fewer government agencies is not limited to the US, though. Sometimes, his fights with “the regulators” set him against other billionaires. In India, Musk is fighting with the government over the distribution of satellite broadband and emerging victorious over Mukesh Ambani. Asia’s richest man had sought terms more favorable to his own telecommunications empire.

He has proclaimed himself a “free-speech absolutist” and complained about the regulators of speech. When the UK was in the throes of violent race riots a month after its general election, Musk tweeted, “Civil war is inevitable,” and posted a cartoon showing a character in an electric chair, claiming that this would be the government’s punishment for free speech in the UK by 2030. He has made similar critiques of the California government and Joe Biden’s administration.

His fight for deregulation regularly pits him against the judiciary. Last month, Brazil blocked access to X over its failure to comply with a judge’s orders and then fined Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, for its sister company’s transgressions. Musk and X eventually complied.

Recently, some of the regulators have taken a new tack: they’re starting to penalize one Musk company for what another Musk company (or Musk himself) does.

Last week, Europe’s regulators took a page out of Brazil’s book, communicating to lawyers at X that the EU could levy fines against the social media company for failing to comply with the Digital Services Act. Crucially, the regulators suggest calculating that tax not just based on X’s revenues, but the total revenue of Musk’s businesses. The penalty, presumably much higher, could financially hobble the social media platform.

In California, a coastal commission cited Musk’s propensity to tweet misinformation during a vote to reject a petition by SpaceX and the US air force to launch more rockets from a base on a Santa Barbara beach. Musk sued in response, alleging political bias and first amendment violations. He just wants to be left alone to launch rockets and tweet and spend tens of millions on the presidential election in peace.

Read the full story on Musk’s omnipresent campaigning.

a boy sits at desk with old fashioned computer

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin follows the legacy of Mats Steen, a Norwegian teenager who suffered from a degenerative disorder that consigned him to a wheelchair for much of his 25-year life.

As Steen became more dependent on his wheelchair and breathing apparatus, he spent increasing amounts of time playing World of Warcraft and other games, sometimes 12 hours a day. The film takes place where he lived most of his life: online.

Steen’s parents worry about the negative effects of screen time on their son. They fear he will “never experience friendship, love, or to make a difference in other people’s lives”. But after his death, they come to find that the thing they despaired over provided him a lifeline, freeing him to do all the things they never thought he could. Steen’s Warcraft character, Ibelin, led him to deep friendships, adventure and even digital romance. He left them his password when he died so they could discover his second life.

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still from computer game of man and woman

In a mirror to Steen’s life, the film’s action happens as much online as off. Shot on digital location in Azeroth, the setting of World of Warcraft, it follows recreations of Ibelin’s conquests, conversations and relationships there. Closeup shots zoom in on avatars’ expressions to simulate the presence and feelings of Steen and his friends, who speak about him as part of their Warcraft family. Each person recounts the profound positive effects of the in-game friendships they shared with Steen via Ibelin.

Ibelin’s scenes in Azeroth triumph in imbuing the actions of the fictional characters there with true significance. Ibelin shares a kiss at sunset with a date; he joins a family called Starlight; he lashes out at those closest to him in painful moments. These avatars comprise the entire emotional life of a group of friends. They offered hope to a boy whose own parents saw his life as truncated and lacking. Who is to say they aren’t real?

Anecdotal success stories of video games and social media are as old as the backlashes against both. What this documentary does differently, though, is situate the viewer within the screen alongside the subject. It is an immersive, empathetic approach, far superior to watching someone use a device from an isolating third-person perspective.

The film arrives as parents the world over debate how much screen time is appropriate for children. Its argument that time spent digitally with friends carries palpable weight is made all the more compelling by its form. By relying on in-game cinematography, the film demonstrates the emotional heft of life online.

The film comes to Netflix on 25 October.

On my iPhone

a photo of a cat from a social media app

This week, I’m watching riveting videos of cats equipped with collar cameras. The videos are marvels in camera stabilization technology as much as they are peeks into the secret lives of outdoor pets. A camera company has already sponsored Mr Kitters, who has become one of TikTok’s main characters. Another feline star, the confrontational @max20499, is more of a villain. He loves to ambush an unsuspecting cat and tussle. To find him, the app suggests the search terms “Maxwell the bully cat” and “Maxwell the bully cat met his match”.

The UK banned students’ phones from schools. Should US schools do the same?

a teenager looks at her phone in a classroom

Pew Research published a poll last week surveying 5,110 US adults on cellphone bans in schools. The results might surprise you, as they did me. Quotes from the poll’s findings:

68% of US adults say they support a ban on middle- and high-school students using cellphones during class.
36% support banning middle- and high-school students from using cellphones during the school day.
Younger adults are less supportive of cellphone bans, in class and for the entire school day. Fewer than half of adults under 30 (45%) say they support banning students from using cellphones during class. This share rises to 67% among those aged 30 to 49 and 80% among those aged 50 and older.
Reasons why: among those who support a ban during class, almost all (98%) say a reason they back it is because students would have fewer distractions in class.
Of those who oppose a ban, 86% say that parents should be able to reach their child when needed.