The Big Tech Show
00:05:48 · Tabitha Monaghan, Adrian Weckler
[00:05:48] S3: And it hasn't been just about the blue ticks this week. It has been a busy week for Elon Musk and Twitter HQ. He's he's made some sweeping changes, especially with the board. [00:05:59] S1: Well, he fired the board. He made himself, the permanent CEO. So not permanent CEO. The standing CEO, which he says will be temporary. But it's not just that. It was kind of embarrassing for Elon Musk because he cut off most of the trust and safety team from being able to access their controls within the company, which was reported as a transition thing. But he did it at the... As the same time as tweeting out himself a conspiracy theory, a a homophobic conspiracy theory about the husband of The US congressional speaker Nancy Pelosi who had been attacked, Paul Pelosi who had been attacked in his home, and he tweeted out a homophobic conspiracy theory about it. He then deleted it afterwards. That tweet was completely discredited by local police. So, I mean, if you're working in Twitter, if you're one of the 500 people working in the twit... In the... Twitter's Irish office, what are you thinking? You know, Musk is cutting off access to most of the trust and safety staff. He's saying he's gonna let go a quarter of all of Twitter's stuff, and then he tweets out a conspiracy theory himself.
00:07:05 · Tabitha Monaghan
[00:07:05] S3: It's a it's a wild move. Alright. But, also, it speaks to... Especially his tweet about Nancy Pelosi's husband, it speaks to that concern that many people have had about Musk taking over Twitter, about what he's going to do to free speech and what he's going to allow or not allow on Twitter. You know, there's talk now about, Donald Trump possibly getting his account back. I mean, it does... It it it doesn't, say a lot for what could happen down the line if Musk is doing that himself.
00:07:31 · Adrian Weckler, Tabitha Monaghan
[00:07:31] S1: Yeah. I I wouldn't be... I would be were... A little worried about Trump getting back on if he treats it the same way as he did before. I'd be a little bit more worried about Musk trading influence on Twitter for things like access to car markets. So you're looking at, say, giant markets like India, for example, over a billion consumers trying to get into that market with Tesla. The Indian government is extremely controlling and... It's a it's a democratic elected government, but it's... Acts like an authoritarian one when it comes to online social platforms. Not hard to see a situation where the Indian government says, if you want access to this market for Teslas, you will now not allow x, y, and zed to, you know, tweet about human rights. On the other hand, the other extreme, you can also see a situation where Musk gives... You know, loosens the reins on all sorts of libertarian kind of conspiracy conspiracy theorist, you know, sources and... Without the the proper content moderation facilities. Although it is fair to note that he has already enraged part of the hard right community by saying that Twitter will continue to have content moderation policies and that he has consulted with a number of civil rights leaders on it. Already, the mob that had been whipped up and who were delighted that Musk was taking over thinking that this was gonna be their new dawn. Already, they're starting to turn on him. [00:09:07] S3: Okay. So, really, maybe we don't have as much to worry about in that sense.
00:09:07 · Tabitha Monaghan, Adrian Weckler
[00:09:07] S3: Okay. So, really, maybe we don't have as much to worry about in that sense. [00:09:12] S1: I think Twitter's still gonna be here in ten years. I also think Musk just about has enough in the bank in terms of goodwill, as, you know, an innovator and as somebody who's built companies like Tesla and SpaceX just about to be given some, time and leeway to build out at Twitter even if he'd spoofed his way through the entire acquisition. And in many ways, he remains a bit of a spoofer. He's... He deserves some latitude in... And time in in being... In building the the network out. And I I do think Twitter will still be here in five or ten years. So, anyway, Tabitha, enough about Twitter and my blue check mark and, you know, your non blue check mark. [00:09:55] S3: Oh my god. Shade from you today. [00:09:58] S1: And who needs a blue check mark? Interesting. I'm over here in the Web Summit in Lisbon, and I did get a chance to sit down with Revolut's cofounder and CEO, Nik Storonsky, to talk about the future of the app and what it might do in Ireland. And this is how the conversation went. Nik, Revolut has over 2,000,000 Irish users, which makes Ireland, I think, its joint second biggest market after The UK. I want to talk to you about that, your mission to become maybe a financial super app, and a number of other things. But first, just before we get to all that, I want to ask you about a report earlier this week about you renouncing your Russian citizenship. Did it hurt to do that?
00:09:58 · Adrian Weckler, Nik Storonsky
[00:09:58] S1: And who needs a blue check mark? Interesting. I'm over here in the Web Summit in Lisbon, and I did get a chance to sit down with Revolut's cofounder and CEO, Nik Storonsky, to talk about the future of the app and what it might do in Ireland. And this is how the conversation went. Nik, Revolut has over 2,000,000 Irish users, which makes Ireland, I think, its joint second biggest market after The UK. I want to talk to you about that, your mission to become maybe a financial super app, and a number of other things. But first, just before we get to all that, I want to ask you about a report earlier this week about you renouncing your Russian citizenship. Did it hurt to do that? [00:10:41] S4: Well, I'm kind of against the war, I just renounce it. And reality, because I lived in The UK for the last sixteen years. Business is in Europe, so it doesn't make sense for me to to to hold it. [00:10:52] S1: Okay. So but emotionally, did it hurt? [00:10:54] S4: Well, a little bit. Yeah. [00:10:56] S1: But... Yeah. Look, we talk about Revolut as being potentially a super app. I mean, it now does personal loans, it's credit cards, crypto trading, cash back shopping, and just this week you launched instant messaging. Are you trying to become a European super app? [00:11:12] S4: Well, ultimately, we want to have in one app all the financial services that our people use. I want to provide the services like in the simple, intuitive, and cost effective way for people.
00:11:12 · Nik Storonsky, Adrian Weckler
[00:11:12] S4: Well, ultimately, we want to have in one app all the financial services that our people use. I want to provide the services like in the simple, intuitive, and cost effective way for people. [00:11:23] S1: What do you think when you hear people talking about Revolut as being a potential super app? Mean, you now have instant messaging. [00:11:30] S4: Well, mean, super app is a very high level concept. Right? Ultimately, what it means for me super app is in one app, I can get access to everything what I need regarding my money. And that's... It's it's in a very simple way as well. Right? If I want to trade, can trade. If I want to buy, sell crypto, can do it. I can withdraw money. Can, you know, do effects. I can do transfers. I can borrow money. So for me just, you know, a tool where I can get everything what I need at good price. [00:11:57] S1: Would you ever consider expanding into services like mortgages for example? [00:12:02] S4: Yeah, definitely. At a certain point of time we will also do mortgages for consumers because when I look at all the mortgages processes, they're quite legacy as well. So it takes you know what seven days you know best. But then, you know, in the worst case it can take you, you know, one, two months to get the mortgage. [00:12:19] S1: In considering that, what kind of models would you look at? Like The States, they have things like rocket mortgages and models like that. Is there any model you're thinking of, if you were thinking of mortgages?