'Valuable insights into a thin-skinned billionaire': Sarah Owen reviews 'Character Limit'
February 2025: Elon Musk with a chainsaw given to him by Javier Milei | Image by: Newscom / Alamy Stock Photo
3 min read
Kate Conger and Ryan Mac have produced a fascinating and important examination of Elon Musk's chaotic acquisition of Twitter
In 2022, Elon Musk offered to buy his favourite toy at a price far higher than it was worth, then desperately tried to backpedal. After being forced to honour his weed-joke offer of $54.20 a share, Twitter’s new owner issued a demand: every staff member must “print out 50 pages of code you’ve done in the last 30 days”.
The directive rapidly backfired. Managers quickly noticed that the printed code contained confidential information about Twitter’s users, creating thousands of violations of Twitter’s duty of privacy to the US government. Scrambling lines formed around shredders to quickly destroy forests-worth of printed code. This is one of the many fascinating stories in Character Limit.
For any other manager, this would be a learning point: take time to understand a business and its employees, rather than flying in with nothing but confidence and assertion. Unfortunately, as we know now that spanner is in the White House, Musk does not learn from mistakes or take any time to reflect on previous decisions. This was all too clear when his newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) sent emails to every US government employee, requiring them to list what they had achieved that week, followed by the senior leadership of every US government department instructing their employees to ignore Musk and continue with their day jobs.
Unfortunately, as we know now that spanner is in The White House, Musk does not learn from mistakes or take any time to reflect on previous decisions
Character Limit could not be better-timed to provide an insight – however terrifying – into the erratic and unpredictable management style and personality of Musk. It documents, step-by-step, the key men (and they are almost entirely men) at Twitter and around Musk, and the decisions taken during the acquisition and subsequent turn in events that led to the creation of X.
It is a fascinating peek behind the curtain of the chaotic acquisition, sparing no detail on the personalities involved, and the mechanics behind the often-baffling decisions taken.
While Musk may have once had the image of the mercurial, eccentric entrepreneur with a space obsession and successful car line, it is clear from Character Limit that his years spent on Twitter and in far-right circles have radically altered how he wants to be seen. Musk has created an archetype “techno king”, who uses the influence we have given social media to ruthlessly pursue his own interests.
Though techno king Musk may have felt comfortable in the world of rockets and cars, it is clear the worlds of social media, politics and governance are alien to him. His obvious management ineptitude, first at Twitter then Doge, shows how thin-skinned he actually is.
Character Limit exposes Musk’s deep insecurity, his hard-coded inability to accept criticism or consider alternative views. He does not trust others and is obsessed only with die-hard obedience, and every decision he took at Twitter and now Doge has served to harm women and people from minority communities.
It is an important book as a breakdown of Musk’s management style and irrational personality, and a difficult read at times. Musk might profit from the chaos he causes, but the world does not. It is a terrifying insight into the impulsive man currently pretending to be president.
Sarah Owen is Labour MP for Luton North
Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
By: Kate Conger and Ryan Mac
Publisher: Cornerstone Press
