Of course we only have anecdotes here, but I think this is probably a real vibe shift that's happening in big tech. For all the talk of ‘masculine energy’, my feeling is that it actually reflects a loss of confidence: it reminds me very strongly of a similar cultural shift that I remember happening during the bursting of the dotcom bubble.
You can now abuse people because Musk fired everybody and "Twitter didn't collapse"?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-begs-advertisers-re...
"X-formerly-Twitter is in deep trouble — and owner Elon Musk is on his knees, yet again, imploring advertisers to return."
It's not just X/Twitter. TSLA is down over 50%. SpaceX is, to a best guess, losing money, Starlink is losing money (and that's ignoring the fact that any money transfers between SpaceX and Starlink obviously should be counted as investment in SpaceX, NOT as revenue. Otherwise SpaceX might be losing 2 digit billions per year)
You want to abuse people for economic gain? All that's been done up to now is abusing people for MASSIVE economic loss.
It's not just tech, it's anti-postmodernism - reactionaryism everywhere, in business, politics, socially, etc.: An hypothesis:
Postmodernism's foundation is distrust of power and authority as corrupting and highly dangerous, and to be prevented and opposed at all times (not just postmodernism - look at the US Constitution, for example) - power is an evil in itself (like the Ring). Postmodernism was inherently democratic, opposing the centralization of power and built, it seems, on the foundation of 'all are created equal' - liberté, égalité, fraternité.
As so many have followed the conservative reactionary program of discarding and scorning postmodernism - try talking about equality or human rights or humanitarianism and see what the response is - now people suddenly find no obstacle to authoritarianism, and even if they distrust it, they've disarmed themselves unilaterally by abandoning postmodernism's defenses.
So we see this power-worshipping (not power-skeptical), authoritarian (not democratic), hierarchical (not egalitarian), contempt for others culture taking over everywhere: politics, government, business, social relations, ... why not? I even see it in family, tragically.
In fairness, that's an expansive definition of postmodernism. There's not enough time or space here to be more precise, sorry.