arlier this morning, Elon Musk sat down for an impromptu 90-minute discuss with BBC North America Tech reporter James Clayton to debate the chaotic first six months of his possession of Twitter.
Inside moments, Musk acknowledged that the BBC would not be labelled “state-affiliated media”. There have been loads of different revelations over the course of the chat, which was additionally broadcast on Twitter Areas.
Listed below are among the extra eyebrow-raising factors.
He purchased Twitter solely as a result of he thought a decide would make him
Final yr, Elon Musk acknowledged he wouldn’t be shopping for Twitter for the agreed $44 billion (£35bn), claiming that the positioning was filled with bots. He ultimately went by way of with the acquisition, simply as Twitter was taking him to court docket for making an attempt to cancel the deal.
Musk, who additionally runs automotive maker Tesla and rocket agency SpaceX, repeated his claims about faux accounts throughout Wednesday’s interview in fairly robust phrases. “Let’s say you purchase a warehouse full of products, and also you’re advised that lower than 5 per cent of the products within the warehouse are damaged,” he stated. “However you then really get to the warehouse and discover 25 per cent of products are damaged — you’re like: ‘huh, that’s not what you stated.’”
That explains the chilly toes, however not the eventual buy. “Did you try this since you thought {that a} court docket would make you try this?” requested Clayton. “Sure,” replied Musk, laughing. “Sure, that’s the reason.”
When pressed on whether or not he needed to purchase the positioning in any respect, his response was revealing: “Properly, not at that worth.”
Evaluation: That is what loads of individuals assumed on the time, however one thing that Musk himself had not acknowledged till now.
Given even Musk accepts that the positioning is price half that now, it appears he acknowledges that he paid considerably over the percentages.
…However he claims he wouldn’t promote it at this time even when provided $44bn
“Somebody is available in and presents you $44 billion for Twitter proper now, would you’re taking it?” requested Clayton, later within the interview. “No,” replied Musk after a protracted pause.
He then clarified that it “depends upon who” the theoretical purchaser is. “If I used to be assured that they might rigorously pursue the reality, then I assume I’d be glad handy it over to another person.”
When he added that he didn’t care concerning the cash, Clayton identified that, as one of many world’s richest males, he might simply give it away to somebody he trusted. Musk deflected this by asking who ought to run Twitter, earlier than including: “It’s a tough job.”
Evaluation: Whereas no one can know what’s occurring inside Musk’s head, this reply will increase a couple of eyebrows. Given he acknowledges he overpaid for the platform and that he didn’t need to should promote priceless Tesla shares to take action, it’s laborious to imagine he wouldn’t deal with such a suggestion as a useful ‘rewind’ button.
Twitter has slashed 81% of its workforce
Twitter’s workforce has been shrinking because the day Musk purchased it, however confirmed figures have been laborious to come back by. Based on Musk, when he joined there have been “slightly below 8,000” employees members and now the quantity is on the 1,500 mark. That’s a drop of 81 per cent.
How troublesome is it to deal with such a sudden drop in person-power? It’s “not enjoyable in any respect”, Musk stated. He added that it may be “painful.” And no, he didn’t hearth all of these individuals personally. “It’s not attainable to speak with that many individuals head to head.”
Evaluation: That’s fewer remaining workers than prompt by most exterior estimates, with the New York Instances placing it across the 1,800 mark in February. Notably, this doesn’t embody contractors — the place an estimated 4,400 of its unique 5,500 have been let go, primarily in content material moderation.
Blue ticks shall be passed by subsequent week
Blue ticks — the best way of verifying whether or not Twitter customers’ identities — will turn out to be a paid characteristic from subsequent week, Musk stated.
That signifies that anyone with a blue tick from the previous regime (celebrities, athletes, journalists and different noteworthy sorts) will lose them in the event that they don’t pay up. This may probably pave the best way for a wave of impersonation.
Evaluation: We’ll see. This was initially alleged to occur in the beginning of the month, after which didn’t.
The corporate must be cautious, although. The introduction of paid-for verification resulted in a faux Nintendo account sharing a swearing Mario, and made a US pharmaceutical firm’s shares plummet with false presents of free insulin.
He doesn’t imagine hate speech and misinformation have elevated
When requested about hate speech, Musk went on the offensive, asking Clayton to present particular examples. When he couldn’t, Musk refused to have interaction with the premise of the query.
“Then I say, sir, that you simply don’t know what you’re speaking about,” he stated. “You possibly can’t title a single instance of hateful content material, not even one tweet, and but you claimed hateful content material was excessive. That’s false.”
He additionally acknowledged that he thought misinformation was declining due to a discount in bots. Clearly not all misinformation spreading is automated, although.
Evaluation: Asking for particular examples is an efficient gotcha in an interview — it instantly places the individual asking troublesome questions on the backfoot. Even when Clayton had given an instance, the road between disagreeable trolling and hate speech is extraordinarily poorly outlined and it’s straightforward to get misplaced within the weeds.
Nonetheless, organisations from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate to Amnesty Worldwide agree that hate speech is surging on the platform. That conclusion is extraordinarily believable, given the job cuts in content material moderation and Musk’s dedication to free speech together with reinstating accounts of these beforehand banned for hateful conduct.
He regrets a few of his tweets
When requested about his personal unintended unfold of misinformation — the tweet selling a conspiracy principle concerning the husband of Nancy Pelosi — Musk accepted that a few of his tweets have been poorly judged.
“Have I shot myself within the foot with tweets a number of occasions? Sure. I would like bullet-proof footwear at this level.”
However does he have extra duty to assume twice earlier than tweeting, now that he’s in cost? “I believe I shouldn’t tweet after 3am, or perhaps 2am,” Musk responded.
Evaluation: Musk deleted the Pelosi tweet fairly rapidly. However typically, you get the impression that, like Donald Trump, he enjoys the moment response generated by a controversial tweet, be it a meme or a political assertion. Certainly, for a time his tweets have been algorithmically amplified, allegedly to make sure extra individuals noticed his tweets than Joe Biden’s.
Musk didn’t vote for Donald Trump
Musk’s politics have turn out to be much more public since buying Twitter. Loads of the individuals he interacts with often on the positioning are extraordinarily pro-Trump.
Regardless of this, and encouraging his followers to vote Republican within the mid-term elections, Musk says he didn’t really vote for the previous US president.
“Positively near half the nation voted for Trump,” he stated. “I wasn’t considered one of them, I voted for Biden.”
Evaluation: Earlier than the 2020 election, Musk was flirting with voting Republican, and Trump himself has claimed that Musk gave him his vote. However then the previous president’s informal relationship with info is the rationale Twitter launched fact-checking within the first place, so who is aware of?
He doesn’t take interviews solely severely
As you may anticipate for the type of eccentric CEO who ensured that the press e-mail deal with robotically replies with the poop emoji, Musk didn’t all the time deal with the change solely severely.
Not solely did he twice insist that his canine, Floki, was the CEO of Twitter, however he additionally, after opening the ground to feedback from listeners, spent an excellent whereas making an attempt to influence Clayton to say he “liked BBC”. That is an acronym used within the on-line porn neighborhood, and really totally different from the British Broadcasting Company.
Evaluation: Maybe unsurprisingly for somebody who constructed his love of Twitter on memes, Musk clearly likes to troll in actual life. What’s shocking is how he veered from severe subjects to frivolous asides — maybe a aspect impact of co-hosting the chat on Twitter Areas, reasonably than dropping by a BBC studio.
