Europe 1 with AFP 11:29 am, April 12, 2023
Interviewed by the BBC on Wednesday, Elon Musk, acknowledged "many mistakes" in the management of Twitter that he compared to a "roller coaster". The billionaire, owner of the blue bird since the end of October, also has the impression that the social network is heading "in the right direction".Elon Musk assured Wednesday in an interview with the BBC that the management of Twitter had been comparable to a "roller coaster" and acknowledged "many mistakes", six months after buying the company for $ 44 billion. "Are there many mistakes made along the way? Of course," said Elon Musk, who has owned Twitter since late October. "But all's well that ends well. I feel like we're heading in the right direction."
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"We want to be as honest and accurate as possible"
In particular, he repeated that the company was seeing advertisers coming back and was "about breaking even". The billionaire entrepreneur was speaking in a surprise interview with the BBC overnight and whose channel, which says it received an invitation from Elon Musk "in a very short time", published excerpts on its website Wednesday morning.
Elon Musk also claimed that he would change the label assigned to the BBC on the platform, after the British channel complained of being stamped "government-funded media". "We want to be as honest and accurate as possible - we are adjusting the label (of the BBC) to 'publicly funded,'" the boss of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter said. "The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are financed by the British public via the licence fee," the channel insisted earlier this week.
Twitter had a few days ago given up stamping the American public radio NPR as a "media affiliated with the state" of the American, after the protests of the station. The episode came days after Twitter stripped the New York Times of the official certification of its account, Elon Musk accusing the major daily, reputed rather progressive, of "propaganda".
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Blue certification reserved for those who will pay from April 20
Twitter's famous blue brand, until now a symbol of recognition, will be reserved from April 20 for those who pay to take advantage of it. The billionaire entrepreneur willingly shows contempt for the media. Lately, questions from the press to Twitter's communications department are sent back in automatic email, an emoticon in the shape of an etron.
Elon Musk, who last month signed a call to pause research on next-generation AI, also called Wednesday for the creation of a regulator "to ensure that (this technology) does not pose a danger to the public".