And it revealed, in addition to touching on the X owner’s use of drugs like ketamine, the billionaire’s contradictory and confusing definitions of “news” and even a comparison between users of the platform and the video games he is so famous for.
Musk began the interview by calling the platform “the number one news source in the world… there’s nothing close to real-time news,” before correcting himself and saying that X dominates as an “information” platform .
About 30 minutes later, Musk sang a different tune. “I think the media isn’t truthful,” he told Lemon, adding that he doesn’t believe most readers should listen to what the media says. (The media prides itself on citing primary sources and using experts, journalists, and editors to contextualize what is and isn’t known.) Even later, he offered a different definition of the type of content on on the platform and the “hardcore, player versus player” style of video games.
Lemon repeatedly questioned Musk about his position as a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist; on the other hand, he has censored the reports of journalists who have covered him for years, he has drawn an ambiguous line in the sand between free speech and hate speech, and he has allowed misinformation to gain a foothold on the platform, something about which Musk and Lemon also clashed in the interview.
Musk on censorship, content moderation, and only removing illegal content
When confronted by Lemon about his behavior on content moderation, Musk responded that “moderation is a propaganda word for censorship.”
During the interview, he expressed his belief that people should be allowed to say whatever the law allows them to say on his platform. Lemon pointed out that hate speech, which is generally protected by law, goes against X community guidelines.
“If something is illegal, obviously we will remove it,” Musk said, before skirting the issue again: “Laws are put in place by people, and we abide by those laws. If you go beyond the law, you are actually going beyond the will of the people.”
Discuss what constitutes censorshipip
Musk has also confronted Lemon at times, accusing him of being pro-censorship in the context of removing hate speech that may not technically be illegal. Yet Musk has a long history of censoring journalists’ accounts, which the European Commission has deemed a violation of EU digital services law. The law went into effect in February, providing guidelines for content moderation and providing fines for companies of up to 6% of global revenue. In a tweetthe commission chairman said that by censoring journalists, Musk had crossed “red lines” and warned of possible sanctions soon.
His warning came a day after X suspended more than two dozen accounts, including one belonging to Jack Sweeney, the college student behind @elonjet, an account that tracks Musk’s private jet. Journalists who were barred included CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan; Ryan Mac of the New York Times; and Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, had all reported on Musk’s decision to suspend Sweeney.
In response, Musk said the accounts involved in tracking his private jets amounted to “doxxing,” or sharing personal information to encourage harassers.
In January Musk suspended a wave of high-profile journalists including the Texas Observer Steven Monacelli and The interceptionIt’s Ken Klippenstein.
Monacelli had recently written several critical reports on Musk and X; and Klippenstein had reported on Musk’s AI discussions with the Israeli military during his campaign in Gaza. Journalists received no explanation for their removal, and many accounts were reinstated that afternoon.