Twitter CEO Elon Musk shut down BBC tech journalist, James Clayton during took Twitter Spaces interview on Tuesday after the reporter claimed the platform was full of “hate speech.”
At the beginning of the interview, BBC reporter Clayton told Musk there was not enough “content moderation” on the platform to police so-called “hate speech.”
“What ‘hate speech’ are you talking about?” Musk responds. “You use Twitter, do you see a rise in Hate speech?” Musk continues to ask, putting the reporter in the position of actually having to do his job.
“I mean, ah, uh…” the BBC reporter stumbles before Musk interjects.
Musk then proceeds to ask the journalist to give his “personal anecdote.”
The reporter, appearing to be aware he will soon have to deliver some hard facts to back up his false claims, then begins to dig himself a hole.
“I personally I get more of that kind of content,” Clayton says, referring to ‘hate speech.’
Musk responds by asking, “So you see more ‘hate speech’ personally?”
“I would say I see more hateful content,” Clayton clarifies.
This is where it gets good.
(Partial Transcript continues)
MUSK: Content you don’t like, or hateful [content], describe hateful?
CLAYTON: Yeah, I mean, you know, content that solicits a reaction, something that may include something slightly racist or sexist, those kind of things.
MUSK: So you think if something is slightly sexist, it should be banned?
CLAYTON: UM, ER, uh, I’m not saying anything,
MUSK: I’m curious; I’m trying to understand what you mean by hateful content. I’m asking for specific examples. You just said that if something is slightly sexist, that’s hateful content and that it should be banned?
Clayton: You’ve asked me whether my feed has got less more ‘hate speech,’ I’d say its got slightly more.
MUSK: that’s why I’m asking for examples, can you name one example?
CLAYTON: I honestly, I don’t, huh, er, I…
MUSK: You say you see more hateful content but you can’t name a single example? Not even one? You don’t know what you’re talking about
CLAYTON: Really?
MUSK: Yes, because you can’t give a single example of hateful content.
Watch
It’s important to note the BBC reporter is speaking to the CEO of Twitter; however, due to the sheer arrogance of the seemingly misinformed journalist, you would think he was speaking to someone from the platform’s middle management.
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