Twitter DMs might not be as private as users think they are, according to a recent claim made by Twitter CEO Elon Musk. In an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Musk alleged that the U.S. government had access to users’ direct messages on the social media platform.
“The degree to which various government agencies effectively had full access to everything that was going on at Twitter blew my mind,” Musk said. When asked if this included people’s direct messages, he replied, “yes.”
While Musk did not provide any evidence to support his claim in the teaser clip of the interview tweeted by Carlson, his comments have raised concerns among Twitter users. This comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the relationship between tech companies and government agencies.
The “Twitter Files,” a collection of internal documents published publicly on the platform, have shed light on the extent of contact between government agencies and Twitter employees in recent months. The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government held a hearing on the Twitter Files in March.
In addition to his comments on Twitter DMs, Musk also spoke about the dangers of artificial intelligence in the interview with Carlson, saying that it had the potential for “civilizational destruction.”
Straight Arrow News aims to identify when stories are being underreported on either side of the political aisle and media landscape. This story is a Media Miss for left-leaning outlets, with most sources reporting it being right-leaning outlets, according to Ground.News.
