In an interview on Twitter Spaces, the billionaire admitted that the risk of a lawsuit influenced his decision to acquire the social network.
During an interview on Twitter Spaces with James Clayton, the BBC’s British reporter, Elon Musk revealed that the decision to acquire the social network in October 2022 was influenced by the pressure generated by the lawsuit that was hanging over him.
After making an offer to acquire the platform for $44 billion, Musk tried to back out by arguing that the user figures he had been given were wrong, as many of the profiles counted as real bots were actually bots.
After arguing around misinformation and hate messages on the platform, the reporter asked Musk around the decision to buy the social network, “Did you do it because you thought the court would make you do it?”
Musk replies, “Yes.”
Clayton says, “Correct.”
And Musk confirms, “That’s the reason.”
Then the reporter adds, “So you were still trying to get out of it. And then the lawyers advised you, “Look, are you going to buy this?”
Musk confirms again, “Yes.”
Elon Musk took control of Twitter on October 27, 2022 by paying the initially agreed amount. Since then the platform reduced its workforce from 7,000 to 1,800 employees and Musk has made multiple changes in an attempt to make it profitable.
During the interview James Clayton discussed the hate messages proliferating on Twitter since Musk took over. When Musk asked him to name an example of the hate messages he sees on the platform, the journalist could not name a single one.