On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk suggested the possibility of advertising the platform during an exclusive interview with CNBC’s David Faber. Musk disclosed that shareholders have shown enthusiasm in promoting the brand, which caught him off guard, given Twitter’s historical aversion to investing in advertising.
The interview was conducted after Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas.
“I was surprised by the level of enthusiasm for advertising,” Musk said. “I have some general thoughts about advertising. If advertising is informative and entertaining, it can start approaching content. I think sometimes advertising is not informative and sometimes a bit misleading. We’ve sometimes lost some advertisers because Community Notes applies to advertisers too.”
Community Notes are designed to enhance the accuracy of information shared on Twitter by enabling users to provide additional context to potentially misleading tweets. Users can contribute their notes to any tweet, and if multiple contributors from diverse perspectives rate a note as helpful, it will be displayed publicly alongside the tweet.
After acquiring Twitter for an astonishing $44 billion last year, Elon Musk implemented various changes, such as relaxing content moderation policies, reviving inflammatory accounts, and expressing his views on politics and global issues. These changes led to a significant departure of well-known brands from the platform.
“We care enough about the truth that we are willing to give up advertiser dollars in order to have the most accurate information,” Musk said. “I’m not sure what the most effective this [for advertising] is, but I know they should be informed about a product, have some artistic element to it, and be something you won’t regret watching after it’s done.”
During the conversation, Musk addressed the issue of free speech on Twitter and the intricate equilibrium he upholds between sharing his opinions and evaluating how his tweets might affect advertisers’ attitudes. However, Musk’s decision to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s account following accusations of incitement to riot during a speech near the U.S. Capitol in 2021 was met with criticism.
Musk claimed that numerous conspiracy theories have been proven accurate, stating, “So many conspiracy theories have turned out to be true.” When asked to provide an example by Faber, Musk cited the Hunter Biden laptop story as the most recent instance where Twitter and Facebook allegedly suppressed information during the 2020 election.
“That was a pretty big deal,” Musk said. “Twitter and others engaged in an act of suppression that was relevant to the public. That’s a terrible thing that happened.”
On Monday, Musk tweeted an accusation that George Soros harbors hostility towards humanity shortly after Soros revealed that he sold a small portion of his Tesla holdings. During the interview, Faber questioned Musk about his tendency to tweet controversial statements that could cause him to lose favor with his advertisers.
“That’s my opinion; it’s freedom of speech. I’m allowed to say what I want, and I don’t want to make this a George Soros interview. I’m reminded of a scene in The Princess Bride where he confronts the person who killed his father, and he says, ‘Offer me money, offer me power, I don’t care.'”
“I’ll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money — so be it,” he added.
