More or Less · Topics · Episode #160

X Isn't Just the AI Town Square, It's the Tech Town Square

From #160 — Zuck says AI is for everyone, His Rivals Ask Washington To Slow it Down · July 31, 2026 · 6:29 min · Jessica Lessin, Dave Morin, Sam Lessin

Clip from the full recording, 42:56–49:25 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube

Mark just followed Jess on X, Jensen and Bernard Arnault have joined, and the trio agrees X has become indispensable to the industry even though — Sam and Dave both admit — it will probably never be a real business.

Jess, newly excited that Mark Zuckerberg just followed her on X, argues X has become not just the AI town square but the tech town square generally, pointing to Zuckerberg’s reinvigorated presence, Jensen Huang and Bernard Arnault joining, and Demis Hassabis posting a policy treatise straight to the platform. Sam agrees emphatically: he’s used X consistently since 2007, credits Nikita’s leadership, and says the conversation there is stronger than it’s ever been — funnier too, since he double-posts to Threads (which he says skews hard left) and X (which he calls right-leaning) and watches the same post get wildly different reactions depending on where he puts it. Dave calls X literally “the nervous system of tech,” dating back to its South Park origins, and credits Elon and Nikita with keeping it central even as its feature set has barely changed.

Asked what they’d do if they ran X, Sam says it’s fine that it’s a bad business — Elon bought a hugely expensive “power lane” asset, not a business, the same way Trump has Truth Social: it means Elon’s posts get seen everywhere and he can’t be deplatformed, which is valuable even without revenue. He credits the team for making obvious fixes, cutting the money-losing bloat, and simply not screwing it up. Dave notes X quietly launched an X Money feature that’s gotten almost no press, which Jess deadpans is exactly the right strategy — “don’t fuck it up” — while Sam compares X’s business prospects to Venmo: an important product that will never be an important business.

Key points

• Jess: Mark just followed her on X; cites Zuckerberg's reinvigorated presence, plus Jensen Huang and Bernard Arnault joining, as evidence X is the industry's real town square.
• Sam: a consistent X user since 2007, thinks Nikita's leadership has made the conversation stronger than ever.
• Sam: double-posts to Threads (hard left-leaning, in his experience) and X (right-leaning) and watches the same post land completely differently on each.
• Dave: calls X "the nervous system of tech," the only place the industry's actual conversation happens — not Threads, Reddit, or Facebook groups.
• Sam: X is a "power lane," not a real business — like Trump's Truth Social, its value is that Elon's posts are seen everywhere and can't be deplatformed.
• Dave: X quietly launched an X Money feature that's drawn almost no press coverage.
• Sam: compares X to Venmo — an important product that will never be an important business.

Where they landed

Quotes

“”— Sam

“”— Dave

“”— Sam

Suggested tweets

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