‘The government had full access’: Elon Musk bombshell claims the US government can access Twitter users’ private messages
- Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk has claimed in a new interview how the US government gained full access to users’ private messages on Twitter.
- Musk mentioned how surprised he was when he learned of the revelation
- Then Musk goes one step further and admits how government agencies have complete access to everything that was happening on Twitter
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has claimed that the US government has access to users’ private messages on Twitter.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, which is set to air Monday and Tuesday night, Musk made a stunning claim noting how shocked he was to learn that the government had full access to private communications on the platform.
The billionaire told Carlson how unaware he was until he joined the company and expressed his amazement at the degree to which government agencies were able to monitor social media.
“I’m blown away by how effectively government agencies have access to everything that goes on on Twitter,” Musk said. ‘I was not aware of that.’
Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk has claimed in a new interview how the US government gained full access to users’ private messages on Twitter.
The wide-ranging interview with Tucker Carlson, pictured, is scheduled to air Monday and Tuesday evening
“Does that include direct messages to people?” Sounding Carlson.
Musk replied, “Yes.”
The extensive interview with Carlson is scheduled to air over the next two nights.
Musk’s acknowledgment that the agencies have full access to everything that happens on Twitter, including direct messages, is likely to raise concerns among users who may have assumed their private conversations were completely private and secure.
While it’s unclear how long the government has had such access, Musk’s comments suggest the situation is much more widespread than many might think.
In addition to discussing government monitoring of social media, Musk also expressed concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
From a troubling standpoint, Musk has stated that he believes AI has the potential to cause the collapse of civilization.
Artificial intelligence is more dangerous than aircraft design or poorly managed production maintenance, or bad car production in the sense that it has the potential – however small this possibility may look, but it is not trivial – it has civilizational potential. Musk said.
Twitter owner Elon Musk (left) interviews BBC technology journalist James Clayton
Last week, in another interview with the BBC, Musk, who is a workaholic, confirmed that he sometimes sleeps on a sofa in a library at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco.
The head of Tesla and SpaceX has been criticized for cutting half of the company’s full-time employees in one week, ending remote work and putting an ultimatum to remaining employees to agree to longer, more intense work patterns or leave.
This led to concerns that the platform might struggle to survive with the reduced maintenance staff and available engineers.
Musk admitted that shutting down one of Twitter’s servers ended up being “extremely catastrophic” because it resulted in the platform losing a significant amount of its functionality.
He also said the business is now “roughly break even”, could be profitable again soon and would be open to selling to the right person.
Musk also revealed that the old blue checkmarks will finally be removed this week.
Musk said last month that verified Twitter users of their heritage will see their blue ticks removed from the service on April 1, unless they pay an $8 monthly fee for the Twitter Blue subscription process.
As a result, thousands of high-profile users of the platform have braced themselves for missing ticks, which can help verify their identity and distinguish them from scammers.
But the inherited blue tick remained in place after the original April 1 deadline.
