April 16, 2023

On this Tuesday noon, April 11, 2023, we are on the verge of a diplomatic incident between Twitter and Great Britain. For the past few days, the BBC account has been tagged by Twitter with the mention “government-funded media” while the BBC is independent, funded at 71% – for the year 2022 – by the British equivalent of the license fee.

Elon Musk therefore accepts the proposal of BBC correspondent in San Francisco, James Clayton, following asking him: “Is this statement correct?“. She has also disappeared since the interview. But the subject is hot: this week, NPR, the independent radio network in the United States, described as “state-affiliated media” by Twitter, as in China, as in Russia, became the first major media to leave the social network.

400,000 fake accounts deactivated in February

Elon Musk therefore agrees, in this interview with the BBC, to take stock of his first 6 months at the head of Twitter, which he became the owner of last October. On sensitive subjects, no change. No, says the one who always presents himself as a defender of freedom of speech: hate speech has not jumped. As for the accounts driven by bots – machines – in February alone, Twitter would have deactivated 400,000 of them, according to its owner.

On the layoffs, too, Elon Musk did not go into detail. The workforce has increased from 8,000 to 1,500 employees. “Yes, it is painful“, he admits, but it was that or “bankruptcy”. And he even makes very personal confessions on several occasions: “Have I made many mistakes since I arrived? Of course. (…) Did I shoot myself in the foot, multiple times with my tweets? Yes. I think I should refrain from tweeting following 3am. (…) Sometimes I sleep at the office. There’s a library where no one goes, on the 7th floor. There is a sofa and I sleep on it sometimes“.

Elon Musk gives the image of a lonely, almost isolated man, who claims to have voted for Joe Biden in 2020, before restoring Donald Trump’s account, suspended following the assault on the Capitol three years ago.

“I don’t care regarding money.”

Elon Musk, owner of Twitter

at the BBC

He also discusses the future of Twitter. First, Elon Musk sets this first deadline: by the end of next week, historical certified accounts will lose the famous blue tick if they do not switch to the paid version, Twitter Blue, billed at €9.60. per month, at the lowest price. A blue badge which was to disappear from April 1, but the announcement had not been followed up. Since then, the blue tick accompanies both the historical certified accounts and the accounts of those who have agreed to pay.

Elon Musk, who paid Twitter $44 billion, is ready to sell “if the right person shows up”he told the BBC, adding: “I don’t care regarding money“. What matters to him is that the next owner is “attached to the truth”. “Running Twitter is not a walk in the parkhe acknowledges. The level of pain is extremely high“.