Ron DeSantis' Twitter announcement alarmed Elon Musk's staff because of his turn to politics and lack of site reliability, report says
- Ron DeSantis announced he's running for president in a glitchy Twitter Space on Wednesday.
- Twitter employees had no plan for "site reliability issues" and worried about the platform's capability, NYT reported.
Ron DeSantis' presidential announcement caused alarm among Twitter's staff over both technical and political concerns, The New York Times reported.
The Florida governor kicked off his campaign via Twitter Spaces on Wednesday, but it was marred by glitches and started nearly 30 minutes late.
Three Twitter employees told The Times that internally, staff had been worrying whether the platform could handle the traffic. There was also no plan for any site reliability issues, the NYT reported.
"Spaces was largely a prototype, not a finished product," one ex-Twitter staffer told CNN. "It's a beta test that never ended."
They added that Spaces relies on both the company's own infrastructure and Amazon Web Services, which "aren't intended to handle Twitter-scale traffic."
With 600,000 people trying to listen to DeSantis' announcement, users reported their apps crashing as Twitter struggled to deal with demand. "We've got so many people here that we are kind of melting the servers," cohost David Sacks said.
According to The Times, Twitter staff were also alarmed by Elon Musk's turn to politics.
While he has often tweeted about "the woke mind virus" and "the intolerant left," Musk also said he voted for both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Last June, he said he was leaning towards voting DeSantis for president.
But Twitter's staff were still shocked by the campaign announcement, likely because Musk's role in the Space marks a more direct involvement in politics.
"All Presidential candidates are most welcome on this platform," Musk tweeted as the event ended.
Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.