It's the Brian Lera Show on WNYC.

Good morning, everyone.

We'll begin today with the intersection of two stories,

two stories from the stock market from the last few days that have not just economic but

political and cultural implications. They are both about social media sites going public,

that is being publicly traded as stock offerings now. As some of you already know,

users of Reddit and Truth Social, Donald Trump's social media company, can now go beyond posting on their favorite internet communities and own a bit of the pie.

Now, in going public, Reddit is seeking to grow its pool of cash, thus allowing the company to expand by acquiring other businesses, is what we've

read, providing new services and opening a new revenue stream that would sell user data

to artificial intelligence companies for training purposes, controversial enough in its own right.

But in this endeavor, Reddit has also ruffled the feathers of its own moderators. Who are the moderators? They are a vast team of volunteers credited for transforming the site into a gem of authenticity. You might say Reddit has taken on a lot of what Twitter used to be before a certain Tesla owner turned it into an

economic and cultural dumpster fire. The fear is that stock traded Reddit might lose some of what

makes it culturally special, but the company does seem likely to offer shareholders a valuable product.

The same cannot be said for truth social.

With its small user base and massive revenue loss last year, the company has fallen into

what they call meme stock territory.

Its product is essentially Donald Trump opening a Pandora's box in which we now have to contend with the fact

that voters can invest in a presidential candidate, or you might call it a donation if the company

loses money, on the stock market. So let's start today by looking at these two social media

companies. Their performances thus far, after a number of days on the stock market

and the broader implications of these events. Joining us now is Felix Salmon, Chief Financial

Correspondent for Axios, host of the Slate Money podcast and author of the Phoenix economy,

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