Elon Musk was surprised when James Clayton, a BBC North America tech reporter, arrived at Twitter HQ to take him up on an offer for an interview. Perhaps less so, however, than Mr. Clayton when the questions started to come his way instead.
Millions of people on Twitter alone have already watched footage of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO accusing the British reporter of lying after he failed to provide one example of hateful content on the social media platform, despite claiming to have seen more of this in recent months.
The conversation became more awkward still when the pair switched from camera to Twitter ‘Spaces,’ a tool for live audio-only conversations. The topic of “COVID misinformation” was brought up by Mr. Clayton, with Mr. Musk, insisting that “I’m interviewing you, too.” Once again Mr. Musk flipped the conversation and asked whether “the BBC hold[s] itself at all responsible for misinformation regarding masks and side-effects of vaccinations, and not reporting on that at all?”
Mr. Clayton preferred not to comment on the BBC’s reporting during the lockdown era, stressing that “this is not an interview about the BBC,” adding “I am not a representative of the BBC’s editorial policy.” “You weren’t expecting that,” Mr. Musk quipped, while the reporter asked to “talk about something else.”
The broadcasting corporation did, however, score one fairly major win on its Twitter tag, which previously described it as “government funded media.” The BBC responded that it “is, and always has been, independent,” funded by the British taxpayer via a licence fee. “Publicly funded media” is the new label, updated following Mr. Musk and Mr. Clayton’s discussion.
But the Twitter boss remains unconvinced that the broadcaster is completely free from state intervention. During their Spaces interaction, he asked “about the fact the BBC was put under pressure by the British government to change the editorial policy [on COVID-19]? Are you aware of that?” The Daily Telegraph highlighted that Mr. Musk “did not expand on his allegations,” though it is possible he was referring to reports last month that leaked emails and WhatsApp messages showed BBC editors telling journalists to avoid using the word “lockdown” at the beginning of the pandemic, and to be more critical of the opposition Labour Party, following pressure from Downing Street.
Despite his criticism, Mr. Musk “actually quite likes the BBC”—that is, according to Mr. Clayton, who stressed that the broadcaster “shouldn’t take it personally.”
