Twitter Layoffs, New CEO, Misinformation, Removing Posts: Top Takeaways From Elon Musk's Surprise Interview

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday talked about Twitter's challenges, mass layoffs, selling the company, and India's social media laws in a surprise interview with BBC. Here are the top takeaways.

Twitter Layoffs, New CEO, Misinformation, Removing Posts Top 5 Key Points From Elon Musk's Surprise Interview To BBC PM Modi Documentary

Twitter CEO Elon Musk “unexpectedly” agreed to an interview with BBC at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday. Later, Musk in a Tweet said, "I said BBC could come Twitter [sic], then, to my surprise, a reporter shows up." [Image Credit: Getty]

Elon Musk revealed his time at Twitter has “been quite a rollercoaster.” He said that before take over, Twitter was “spending money like it’s going out of fashion.” The company’s “$4.5 billion in revenue, $4.5 billion in cost” situation had led to a negative cash flow situation, Musk claimed, adding that it was being run “like a non-profit.” [Image Credit: Getty]

Takling about the mass layoff post his takeover, Musk said that the company had “just under 8,000” employees earlier, and now is left with 1,500 workers. He claimed that the whole experience was “not fun at all” and can at times be “painful”. [Image Credit: Getty]

On media reports about some employees sleeping in the office to avoid being fired, Musk said that he, too, sleeps in the office “sometimes,” adding that his chosen spot is a couch in the office library, where “no one goes to.” [Image Credit: Getty]

On Twitter being used to spread misinformation, Musk said, “Who’s to say what’s right and wrong?” He asked the reporter, "I'm asking for a single example and you can't name one." When asked about why Twitter brought changes to its Covid misinformation labels, Musk simply said, “Covid is no longer an issue.” [Image Credit: Getty]

When asked if Musk would consider selling Twitter for $44 billion right now, he simply rejected the idea. But then he clarified that he would go on to sell the company if he did find a buyer as committed to the truth as he was, he might just consider. [Image Credit: Getty]

Musk in December last year had said that he’d give up the seat of CEO if he found someone “foolish enough to take to take the job.” During the latest interview, Musk said that he is “no longer the CEO of Twitter,” before adding as a joke that his pet dog Floki is the new CEO. [Image Credit: Getty]

When asked about the microblogging platform's removal of posts related to a BBC documentary on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Musk clarified that he was not aware of this particular case, but commented on India's strict social media laws. "I'm not aware about this particular case... India has very strict social media laws," said Musk. "If the choice is between complying with laws or going to jail, I'd rather comply with laws than have any of my people go to jail." [Image Credit: Getty]