David Hookstead
Videos by OutKick
BBC reporter James Clayton ran into a buzzsaw during an interview with Elon Musk about free speech and content on Twitter.
Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter and started running the tech giant, it’s clear that the days of censorship are rolling back at a high rate.
No longer does Twitter ban people for making accurate claims about biology, questioning how COVID was handled, jokes don’t get you banned and stories the establishment doesn’t like – see Hunter Biden’s laptop – aren’t restricted. It’s not perfect, but I think many would accurately argue it’s better.
Well, not everyone is happy about the increased flow of information. Clayton spoke with Musk and alleged hate speech is one the rise.
The interview did not go well.
Elon Musk asks for specific examples of hate speech increasing.
“We’ve spoken to people very recently who were involved in moderation and they just say there’s not enough people to police this stuff, particularly around hate speech in the company. Is that something that you want to address,” Clayton asked the Twitter owner, according to the Daily Mail.
Musk hit back with, “What hate speech are you talking about? I mean, you use Twitter. Do you see a rise in hate speech? Just a personal anecdote? I don’t.”
“Personally, for you, I would say I get more of that kind of content, yeah, personally. But I’m not going to talk for the rest of Twitter,” Clayton responded, according to the same Daily Mail report. From there, the billionaire asked him to name some examples of the hateful conduct he’s seen on Twitter. That’s when the wheels really fell off for the BBC reporter.
“I’m asking for one example and you can’t give a single one. 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,” Musk hammered Clayton with when he couldn’t define specific examples of increased hate speech.
“People will say all sorts of nonsense. I’m literally asking for a single example and you can’t name one,” the Tesla founder further added.
You can watch a clip of the exchange below.
Musk wasn’t interested in playing games.
It’s obvious to anyone watching that Elon Musk had zero interest in playing a game answering broad questions without specifics. That was borderline brutal to sit through. It was so one-sided.
You knew the situation was about to blow up when Musk simply asked, “So you think if something is slightly sexist it should be banned? Is that what you’re saying?”
Musk knew he had the high ground the moment Clayton couldn’t offer specifics and he just laid into him.
Now, that’s not to say there aren’t racist or sexist things on Twitter and every other social media platform. Whenever millions of consumers are using something, there’s going to be some bad apples. That’s life. However, that doesn’t mean you can just paint with broad strokes and claim there’s more hate speech on Twitter without offering a SINGLE EXAMPLE for Elon Musk to consider.
You need to have concrete proof and examples if you’re going to lob accusations of racism, sexism, hate speech, bigotry and other offensive content. Otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up to get wrecked. That’s exactly what Elon Musk did to his BBC reporter and it’s now going viral. This is a great example of why people just don’t trust the media these days.
This is fantastic, and the whole thing should be done more often. When things are said like “such and such group is in danger,” or “such and such group is a threat,” call them out on it. Make them give statistics or examples that validate those statements. Far too often falsehoods are just accepted as fact because nobody ever questions them.
Totally agree. DeSantis has gained his popularity by doing exactly this, then hitting back with actual examples, studies, and facts of his own. More politicians, and people in general, should do this when confronted with the carpet-bomb approach of “everything is racist, sexist, transphobic, etc.” You are either going to get stone silence, or turn the attacker into a ball of screaming goo. Either way, you look like the rational, intelligent one while the progressive clown reverts to name calling
Freaking genius. Love this.
Too bad Musk wasn’t born in America…
TOTALLY AGREE…If he’d been born in FLA then he could run for President!
Just another leftist propagandist who lies and makes stuff up for a living. He represents 90% of the left-wing press.
This is great. Typical left winger, just throw some accusation out there. Musk made this guy look exactly what he is…a lying dick. Make these fools and liars back up their claims with evidence. They never can.
LOL the condescending wee little Asshat wants to… key Brit accent..move on, we have limited time WHILE YOU’RE LITERALLY BITCH SLAPPING ME.
Brilliant! Every single person on the planet who’s sick of Marxist rules, needs to break down the hate squad one at a time like this. Then they’ll have to actually think about what they say, rather than hiding behind THEY say.
Interviewers are as bad as interviewees in media with filabustering when it doesn’t go their way!
Own you question, own your answer, or own your ignorance. Brilliant Musk!