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Elon Musk Stumps BBC Reporter: 'You Just Lied'

April 12, 2023

Elon Musk stumped a BBC reporter after calling out his "false" claim that hate speech has increased on Twitter, demanding he provide an example.

When BBC reporter James Clayton asked during a Tuesday interview for Musk’s response to claims that Twitter is understaffed to address hateful content, which the reporter said was "on the rise," Musk turned the tables. The billionaire Tesla and Twitter CEO asked the journalist to give an example of such content, which Clayton could not provide at the time.

"I say, sir, that you don't know what you are talking about," Musk said, "because you cannot give me a single example of hateful content, not even one tweet. ... You claimed that hateful content is high. That is false, you just lied."

The BBC interview is the latest example of tensions between the Twitter CEO and major news outlets. The BBC objected to Musk labeling the outlet on Twitter as "government-funded media." Musk said during the interview he would change the label to "publicly funded."

Twitter currently labels National Public Radio as "government-funded media," and the New York Times lost its verified status on the platform.

Musk reportedly blocked tweets linking to Substack, a company which writers use to promote their work, after it introduced Notes, a competitor to Twitter’s platform.

In the BBC interview, Musk addressed difficulties in boosting revenue but said that advertisers "are coming back" and the company is breaking even.

Twitter has slashed operating costs since Musk took control, reducing the company’s workforce by 6,500 employees.

"I think it was around just under 8,000, and we’re about 1,500 right now," Musk told BBC.

Published under: BBC , Elon Musk , Twitter