A BBC reporter attempted to confront Twitter CEO Elon Musk on hateful content on the platform, but it did not turn out as he had planned.
During the interview Tuesday night, Musk asked James Clayton, when he mentioned hateful content, “So you think if something is slightly sexist, it should be banned?”
Clayton replied, “I’m not saying anything.”
Musk responded, “I’m just curious what you mean by hateful content. I’m asking for specific examples. And you just said that if something is slightly sexist, that’s hateful content. Does that mean that it should be banned?”
Clayton told Musk he “asked me whether my feed, whether it’s got less or more. I’d say it’s got slightly more.”
The Twitter CEO then asked Clayton to give him one example.
“I honestly don’t — honestly …” Clayton said.
The reporter claimed he could not give an example because, “I don’t actually use that feed anymore. Because I just don’t particularly like it. I think a lot of people are quite similar. I only look at what my followers said.”
After Musk pointed out again how Clayton could not provide a single example, the reporter said, “I’m not sure I’ve used that feed for the last three or four weeks.”
Watch part of the interview below:
BBC ‘journalism’ at its finest 🤦🏻♂️
— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) April 12, 2023
BBC Journo: “There’s been a rise in hatful content on Twitter.”@elonmusk: “Give me an example.”
Journo: “I can’t.”
Musk: “You just lied.” pic.twitter.com/wOfzn5vGfJ
When asked again how he can see hateful content, Clayton continued, “Because I’ve been using it. I’ve been using Twitter since you’ve taken over the last six months.”
Musk replied, “So then, you must have at some point seen that hateful content. I’m asking you for one example, and you can’t give a single one … Then I say so that you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He added, “Because you can’t give a single example of hateful content. Not even one tweet. And yet, you claimed the hateful content was high. That was false. You just lied.”
The pair continued to go back and forth with Clayton failing to provide a specific example.
The video sparked thousands of reactions.
Washington Examiner columnist Ian Haworth wrote, “*This* is what’s great about Elon Musk.”
*This* is what’s great about Elon Musk. https://t.co/Be2eV2nr8p
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) April 12, 2023
Blaze TV host Sara Gonzales added, “LOLOL.”
LOLOL https://t.co/S9HFAk8XcC
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) April 12, 2023
One tweet argued, “They won’t give specific examples of ‘hateful’ content because it’s usually just opinions, jokes, and even factual statements they don’t like. They’d look like idiots if they got specific. This is why they speak in general terms about a rise in hate. What they really mean is that people who disagree with them are allowed to speak. The real hatred is their disdain for dissent.”
They won't give specific examples of "hateful" content because it's usually just opinions, jokes, and even factual statements they don't like. They'd look like idiots if they got specific. This is why they speak in general terms about a rise in hate. What they really mean is that… https://t.co/c3t0XiBZHJ
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) April 12, 2023
The interview came less than two weeks after The Washington Post published an article titled, “Elon Musk’s Twitter pushes hate speech, extremist content into ‘For You’ pages.”
The Post stated its analysis of Twitter’s recommendation algorithm show “accounts that followed ‘extremists’ — hate-promoting accounts identified in a list provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center — were subjected to a mix of other racist and incendiary speech.”