--- title: "Elon Musk Apparently Thinks Twitter Is a “Flaming Dumpster Rolling Down the Street”" description: "Dave Rubin says that Twitter's \"whole situation\" is \"'a flaming dumpster rolling down the street.'\" Miraculously, we agree — but for different reasons." date: "2023-02-01" modified: "2023-02-01" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/twitter-flaming-dumpster" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "fox news" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Elon Musk Apparently Thinks Twitter Is a “Flaming Dumpster Rolling Down the Street” ![Dave Rubin says that Twitter's "whole situation" is "'a flaming dumpster rolling down the street.'" Miraculously, we agree — but for different reasons.]() *\Image: Anadolu via Getty / Futurism\* ## Nods in Agreement In what [*Fox News* described]() on-air as a measure to ensure "transparency" regarding Twitter's shadowbanning practices, new Twitter CEO Elon Musk invited conservative journalist and *Fox* commentator Dave Rubin to take a "look inside" Twitter headquarters. And while it's not clear how constructive or productive Rubin's days-long tour really was, the two figures apparently agree on one big thing: that Twitter is, in Musk's analysis, "a flaming dumpster rolling down the street." "He thinks maybe the entire code has to be torn down and start from scratch," Rubin [tweeted]() in an [expansive Twitter thread](), a sentiment that he [reaffirmed on the television program *Fox & Friends*]() on Monday, "he said that the whole situation is 'a flaming dumpster rolling down the street.'" "I gotta tell you," Rubin told the *Fox & Friends* hosts, "that after being in San Francisco for 48 hours, a 'flaming dumpster rolling down the street' was pretty much the exact right metaphor." ## Disagree to Agree Rubin certainly doesn't think that Musk is to blame for the platform's flaming dumpster-esque woes. Rubin, like Musk, believes that the SpaceX founder purchased a free speech-suppressive platform that apparently has flawed "tiramisu" code. Or something. "The way code works, as he described to me, I know not all your viewers are coders, nor am I, but you're basically looking at a tiramisu layer cake," said Rubin, at one point also comparing Twitter to [Pee-wee Herman's Rube Goldberg machine](). "And as you fix one layer, and then you realize how many other problems are under it and you may have screwed something up." To be fair, Rubin did go a bit deeper into his post-HQ reflections on Twitter, [saying that]() Twitter engineers had shown him that his account had been tagged with "'secret'" shadowban-inducing "labels" like "'recent abuse strike,' 'Recent misinformation strike,' and "'Recent suspension strike.'" But to Rubin's complaint, he [actively]() [promotes]() [election]() [denialism](), which is [literally misinformation](). (He also stopped in SF to [make fun of struggling people]() on the street, so, you know, cool guy.) Rubin also failed, on Twitter as well as *Fox & Friends*, to bring up the fact that Musk's Twitter [recently banned]() a number of [Musk-critical journalists]() from the platform overnight. Maybe it just didn't come up? **WATCH:** [*Twitter was built to suppress certain voices: Dave Rubin*]() \[*Fox News*\] **More on Musk bans:** [*Free Speech Champion Elon Musk Is Mass Suspending Twitter Accounts of Journalists Who Criticized Him*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()