Musk: "US Government Can Read All Twitter DMs"

Partial Release of Fox News Interview Scheduled for the 18th
"Artificial Intelligence Carries the Potential to Destroy Civilization," Warning Included

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla who acquired the social networking service (SNS) Twitter last year, made a bombshell statement in an interview with the media, saying, "The U.S. government can read all private direct messages (DMs) of Twitter users."

According to the American political media outlet The Hill on the 16th (local time), Musk said this in an interview with Fox News' 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' which will air on the 18th. Musk's remarks were released ahead of the broadcast through a 14-second preview video. Musk said, "I was very shocked to learn that government agencies have virtually full 'access rights' to everything happening on Twitter," adding, "I did not know about this." When host Carlson asked, "Does that access include users' DMs?" Musk replied, "Yes."

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

DMs are messages exchanged directly between SNS users such as Twitter, which others cannot see. Musk's remarks suggest the possibility that the U.S. government has been peeking into private messages exchanged between individuals on SNS, which is expected to cause major controversy. However, the American economic media Forbes pointed out, "It is unclear until the full interview is released whether the access rights Musk mentioned refer to the usual procedure where agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtain data held by tech companies through court orders, or if a more sinister surveillance system is at work." Nevertheless, it is difficult to understand Musk's claim that he was unaware of the U.S. government's legal wiretapping.

Musk also warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) in his interview with Carlson. He said, "'Left-wing' programmers can use AI to lie," adding, "They are making AI lie, which is not right." He continued, "AI is more dangerous than faulty aircraft design or defective car production," and raised his voice, saying, "AI could destroy civilization." Recently, Musk established 'X.AI,' presumed to be an AI development company, in Nevada.

[Image source=Pixabay]

Since Musk acquired Twitter last year, it has become a subject of controversy. Musk granted some journalists access to internal Twitter information, and subsequently, a journalist shared the so-called 'Twitter Files,' known as confidential Twitter documents, causing a huge uproar. These documents reportedly contain evidence that Twitter intervened in the last presidential election by censoring news articles reporting on contents leaked from Hunter Biden's laptop, President Joe Biden's son, and preventing certain posts from spreading.

Recently, Twitter's relationship with the media has also become strained. NPR, a U.S. public radio, stopped using Twitter after Twitter labeled NPR's account as "government-affiliated media," which NPR opposed. Twitter also made the official account verification mark, the "blue check," a paid feature, leading to friction as major U.S. media outlets such as The New York Times, AP News, and CNN refused to pay. Twitter also labeled the British public broadcaster BBC as "government-affiliated media," but after Musk held a surprise interview with BBC, the label was changed to "publicly funded."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.