Elon Musk has attempted to clear the air after his October 2022 Twitter takeover in one of his most in-depth discussions yet.
The billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and, more recently, Twitter, recently sat down for a rare interview with the BBC’s technology correspondent James Clayton at the social media platform’s headquarters in San Francisco.
The interview lasted nearly an hour and canvassed topics, like hate speech on Twitter, Musk’s political views and his management of the social media platform since he took it over.
Extent of staff lay-offs revealed
Musk revealed the extent of the massive cuts to Twitter’s staff since taking over the social media platform in October last year, confirming that he has laid off over 6000 employees, which equates to nearly 80 per cent of the company’s workforce.
At the time of his acquisition, there were approximately 8000 employees.
Musk described that phase as “not fun at all” and at times “painful”.
He added that unless drastic action was taken, Twitter would have been “owned by a bank”, and the company would have died.
“This is not a caring [or] uncaring situation. It’s like, if the whole ship sinks, then nobody’s got a job,” Musk said.
Musk went on to reveal that Twitter was facing a “negative cash flow situation” of $3 billion ($AU4.48 billion), leaving the platform with “four months to live.”
He said that the company was in dire straits when he took it over, and that he had no choice but to make radical changes to save it.
Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion ($AU65.7 billion) in October last year.
However, he initially offered to take over the company in April 2022 but later tried to back out of the deal, citing concerns over the number of bot accounts on the platform.
Since taking over the company, Musk has overhauled Twitter, firing top executives, slashing jobs, and enacting new policies on verifying or labelling user accounts.
Despite the challenges, Musk said that Twitter is now “roughly breaking even” and could become “cash flow positive this quarter” if things continue to go well.
The lay-offs and restructuring of Twitter have been met with mixed reactions, with some applauding Musk for taking decisive action to save the company, while others have criticised him for being too harsh and for cutting in such a callous manner.
Musk flips the script on hate speech and winning the war on bots
Musk refused to accept that the platform had more hateful content since he took over.
During the interview, he was also challenged over misinformation and hate speech on the platform but maintained his position that Twitter hosted less misinformation since he acquired it.
Musk claimed partial victory over bots (automated accounts), claiming misinformation on Twitter decreased after his takeover.
“My experience is there is less misinformation rather than more,” he said.
However, misinformation trackers – like Newsguard and other studies – found that engagement with misinformation-spreading increased after Musk’s takeover.
In discussing the hate speech topic, Musk and Clayton became locked into an awkward exchange where the interview conventions were briefly flipped.
“There’s not enough people to police this stuff, particularly around hate speech. Is that something you want to address?” Clayton asked Musk.
“Do you use Twitter? Do you see a rise in hate speech? I don’t,” Musk quipped.
“Personally, on my ‘For You’, I see more of that kind of content, but I’m not going to speak for the rest of Twitter. I would say I see more hateful content.” Clayton responded.
“Content you don’t like or hateful content? Describe what you mean by hateful,” Musk said.
“Content that will solicit a reaction … something that may include something that is slightly racist, slightly sexist, those kinds of things,” Clayton said.
“So you think if something is slightly sexist, it should be banned?” Musk asked.
“No, I’m not saying anything,” Clayton responded.
“I’m just curious, I’m trying to understand what you mean by hateful content, and I’m asking for specific examples. You’ve just said if something is slightly sexist, it is hateful content. Does that mean it should be banned?” Musk asked again.
“Well you’ve asked me whether my feed has got less or more, I’d say it has got slightly more,” Clayton said.
“That’s why I am asking for examples. You can’t name a single example?” Musk reasserted.
“I’ll tell you why, I don’t use actually use that ‘For You’ feed anymore because I don’t particularly like it,” Clayton revealed.
“Hang on a second. You have said you see more hateful content, but you can’t name a single example, not even one?” Musk inquired.
“I’m not sure I’ve used that feed for the last three or four weeks,” Clayton said.
“So, how have you seen that hateful content?” Musk asked.
“Because I’ve been using Twitter since you’ve taken it over in the last six months,” Clayton said.
“So then you must have at some point seen the ‘For You’ hateful content, and I’m asking you for one example, and you can’t give a single one? I say, sir, you don’t know what you are talking about!” Musk exclaimed.
“Really?” Clayton asked
“Yes, because you can’t give me a single example of hateful content, not even one tweet, and yet you claimed that the hateful content was high. That’s false. You just lied!” Musk responded.
“No, what I said is there are many organisations who say that kind of content is on the rise,” Clayton said.
“People say all sorts of nonsense, I’m literally asking for a single example, and you can’t give one,” Musk said.
‘I voted for Joe Biden’
Musk said that nearly half the country voted for Donald Trump in the last US election, but he added: “I wasn’t one of them. I voted for Biden.”
He defended ending a Twitter ban on Trump, who was removed in 2021 when the platform accused him of inciting violence.
The former president has yet to return to the platform but prefers to use his own stylistically similar ‘Truth’ platform.
Musk opposes TikTok ban
Musk confirmed he is against any moves to close it down most downloaded app in the US, but confirmed he is not one of its 150 million Americans users.
Concerns over TikTok’s Chinese ownership has prompted the US to consider banning the platform due to security concerns.
Some other countries, including Australia, have moved to ban it from the phones of government employees.
“I’m generally against banning things,” said Musk, although he conceded a ban would benefit Twitter with potentially more traffic.
Not seeking out a Twitter buyer
Twitter is not for sale and Musk confirmed he’ll be a picky seller if that day ever comes.
He said it would be important to find a buyer who shared his values regarding the platform.
“I don’t care about the money,” he said.
When asked whether he had any regrets about buying Twitter, Musk said the journey had not been easy, even confirming rumours he has been sleeping in the office.
“(The) pain level has been extremely high, this hasn’t been some kind of part” Musk revealed.
“It’s not been boring. It’s been quite a rollercoaster.
“(It has been) really quite a stressful situation over the last several months.”
Backing down on BBC’s brutal label
Elon Musk has confirmed that he will change the label used to describe the BBC on Twitter, from “government-funded” to “publicly funded,” following objections from the broadcaster.
Musk stated that he would use the same language that the BBC uses to describe itself and that the change was being made to ensure accuracy.
The British public primarily funds the BBC through a TV license fee, which accounts for 71 per cent of its total income of £5.3 billion ($AU9.9 billion) in 2022.
The remaining funding comes from commercial and other activities, such as grants, royalties, and rental income.
The BBC also receives over £90 million ($AU168 million) annually from the UK government to support the BBC World Service, which serves non-UK audiences.
Musk acknowledged the BBC’s concerns about being labelled as “state-affiliated media” and emphasised the importance of accuracy in labelling.