Elon Musk says he sleeps on office sofa in 6-month Twitter update
Musk, the bombastic social media boss, touted the changes he’s made since buying the site in October and laying off more than two-thirds of its employees. He called out Twitter’s open source code for its recommendation algorithm, the site’s emphasis on video, and its resilience in the face of massive transformations. He said that Twitter is breaking even from a financial standpoint, that advertisers were returning to the site, and that Twitter usage and growth is satisfactory.
“Many have predicted that Twitter will cease to function,” Musk said. “Their predictions have not come true … We are literally on Twitter now.”
The billionaire made the comments in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday night over the company’s live audio feature, Twitter Spaces. In the interview, Musk said Twitter would adapt a new label Twitter has added to accounts including NPR and the BBC, referring to them as state-affiliated media — highlighting instead their reliance on public funding.
But Musk also disputed that misinformation is more widespread on the site, after the journalist was unable to cite a specific example of the phenomenon.
“You said you see more hateful content, but you can’t even name a single one,” Musk said, his tone becoming agitated. “You just lied!”
The two continued back and forth.
“Give me an example! You literally can’t name one, he said. “You literally said you experience more hateful content and then couldn’t name a single example, it’s absurd.”
The topic switched to covid.
“Covid is no longer a problem,” Musk said.