Twitter CEO Elon Musk blasted a BBC reporter during Tuesday’s “hastily arranged” interview when the journalist failed to cite specific examples of hate speech flourishing on the social media platform.
As they discussed looming layoffs and the “painful” journey Musk, 51, has gone through following his Twitter acquisition last year, BBC reporter James Clayton decided to confront the Tesla founder about allegations that he does not have enough staff to police hate speech on Twitter.
“What hate speech are you talking about,” Musk asked. “I mean, you use Twitter. Do you see a rise in hate speech? Just a personal anecdote? I don’t.”
When Clayton answered that he did personally see more hate speech on Twitter, Musks challenged him to name just one example, but the reporter could not come up with a single one.
“Honestly, I don’t… I don’t actually use that feed anymore because I just don’t particularly like it,” Clayton said of Twitter’s “For You” feature. ” And actually a lot of people are quite similar. I only look at my followers.”
Musk replied: “I’m asking for one example and you can’t give a single one. Then I say sir, that you don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You cannot give me a single example of hateful content, not even one tweet. And yet you claimed that hateful content was high. That is false, you just lied.”
Clayton went on to point the finger at Musk, with the journalist claiming that he said others have reported seeing a rise in hate speech, not that he saw it himself on his Twitter feed.
Musk snapped back, saying, “You literally said you experienced more hateful content and then couldn’t name a single example. That’s absurd!”
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During the interview, Clayton suggested that the rise in hate speech was attributed to “content that would solicit a reaction, something that is slightly racist, slightly sexist.”
The Chief Twit also challenged that characterization, asking: “So you think if something is slightly sexist it should be banned? Is that what you’re saying?”
Clayton replied: “No, I’m not saying anything.”
The BBC did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
The allegedly “unexpected” interview with the British outlet comes as Twitter faces mounting pressure overseas to crack down on hate speech and illegal content on the platform.
Earlier this year, the European Union warned Twitter that it must hire more content moderation staff to comply with its Digital Services Act.
And last week, Germany’s Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) threatened the company with a $55 million fine for failing to adequately deal with illegal content, including hate speech, personal threats, defamation, and antisemitism.
“The BfJ has sufficient indications that [Twitter] has violated the legal obligation to deal with complaints about illegal content and that this is a systemic failure in the complaint management of the provider, which is subject to a fine,” the agency said.
Twitter is also facing a lawsuit from the HateAid and the European Union of Jewish Students human rights group, which allege that the company has failed to remove six posts that trivialize or deny the Holocaust.
