Elon Musk blows lid on massive spying scandal in explosive interview
Elon Musk said government spies were able to access all parts of Twitter before he took over - including one very private feature.
BBC reporter taken to task over Elon Musk interview
Elon Musk alleged US government agencies had "full access" to the activities of Twitter users before he bought the company.
The unsubstantiated claim comes six months after the billionaire became the company's CEO in a controversial takeover.
In the trailer for his upcoming interview with Fox host Tucker Carlson, Musk said: "The degree to which various government agencies effectively had full access to everything that was going on at Twitter blew my mind."
The clip appears to suggest the Twitter owner will be doubling down on the allegations he made with the release of the so-called Twitter files, which he alleged showed government officials had pressured the company into shutting down the sharing of negative press coverage on the platform.
However, Musk told the BBC in an earlier interview that time had come to "move on" from the Twitter files.
He said: "I think there's a few things left. General, there's not a lot that I'm aware of that's left. It's mostly just like, you know, let's move on to the future."
Musk had joined forces with a group of selected journalists last December to report on alleged activities before his takeover.
READ MORE: Elon Musk changes BBC Twitter biography after bias row with reporter live on air
JUST IN: Elon Musk says US government had full access to Twitter user activity, including DMs under previous management. pic.twitter.com/od9zVI8rpa
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 16, 2023
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In his wide-range interview with Tucker Carlson, which is due to be aired on Monday and Tuesday, Musk said Twitter is now "roughly breaking even" and he would be open to selling the business to the right person.
He admitted shutting down one of the company's service centres had been "quite catastrophic" and cost him a large part of the platform's functionality.
Musk insisted Twitter could soon be profitable again – and confirmed the legacy blue marks will be removed this week.
He had warned legacy users their ticks – which verify high-profile personalities and avoid being confused with impostors – would be removed from April 1 unless they signed up to pay £6 ($8) a month.
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Earlier this week, Musk said running Twitter has been “quite painful”. He told the BBC: “It’s not been boring. It’s quite a rollercoaster."
It was a rare chance for a mainstream news outlet to interview Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX. After buying Twitter for $44 billion last year, Musk's changes included eliminating the company's communications department.
Reporters who email the company to seek comment now receive an auto-reply with a poop emoji.
The interview was sometimes tense, with Musk challenging the reporter to back up assertions about rising levels of hate speech on the platform.
At other times, Musk laughed at his own jokes, mentioning more than once that he wasn't the CEO but his dog Floki was.
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