Bengaluru: Elon Musk has broken his silence on the controversial BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, being removed from Twitter.
While Musk said he didn't know why content related to the documentary was removed from Twitter, he pointed out India's social media laws were quite strict.
During an interview with the BBC on Twitter Spaces, Musk said: "I don't know about that particular incident (the BBC documentary). There is no understanding of what happens to some content in India. The laws there (India) regarding what should appear on social media are quite strict. The organisation cannot override the law of the land. If employees have to choose between going to jail and obeying the law, they will obviously opt for the latter."
'Running Twitter quite painful, but not boring'
About acquiring the platform, Must told BBC that running Twitter has been quite painful but that the social media company is now roughly breaking even after he acquired it late last year.
In the interview that streamed live late Tuesday, the billionaire also discussed his ownership of the online platform, including layoffs, misinformation and his work style.
After buying Twitter for US$44 billion last year, Musk's changes included eliminating the company's communications department.
Reporters who email the company to seek comment now receive an auto-reply with a poop emoji.
The interview was sometimes tense, with Musk challenging the reporter to back up assertions about rising levels of hate speech on the platform.
At other times, Musk laughed at his own jokes, mentioning more than once that he wasn't the CEO but his dog Floki was.
He also revealed that he sometimes sleeps on a couch at Twitter's San Francisco office.
Advertisers who had shunned the platform in the wake of Musk's tumultuous acquisition have mostly returned, the billionaire said, without providing details.
Musk predicted that Twitter could become cash flow positive in the current quarter if current trends continue.
'Layoffs something that had to be done'
After acquiring the platform, Musk carried out mass layoffs as part of cost-cutting efforts. He said Twitter's workforce has been slashed to about 1,500 employees from about 8,000 previously, describing it as something that had to be done.
“It's not fun at all. The company's going to go bankrupt if we don't cut costs immediately. This is not a caring-uncaring situation. It's like if the whole ship sinks, then nobody's got a job,” Musk said.
Asked if he regretted buying the company, he said it was something that needed to be done.
“The pain level of Twitter has been extremely high. This hasn't been some sort of party," Musk said.
(With PTI inputs)
