Elon Musk Says It Would 'Help Twitter' If 'TikTok Was Banned'

After significant controversy, Elon Musk became the new "Chief Twit" last year.

The move has caused some celebrities, like "Star Wars" alum Mark Hamill to complain about a sharp drop in followers while other celebrities, like comedian Jim Carrey and singer Sir Elton John, threatened to leave the platform altogether.

For his part, not everyone has been against Musk's takeover of Twitter. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings had nothing but praise for the Tesla CEO, who he described as “the bravest, most creative person on the planet” last December.

Although Musk can admit that some of his decisions have been controversial, he does believe that Twitter is "headed to a good place" in a last-minute interview with BBC last night.

Last night, Elon Musk sat down for a last-minute interview with the BBC (via Deadline), to discuss the state of his new platform. The 51-year-old entrepreneur said that it has been "a rollercoaster" with a "high pain level" running the social media service.

Although he admitted that there were "mistakes made along the way," he does believe that the social media is "headed to a good place" despite the number of people who have left Twitter for other social media apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

“It would help Twitter, I suppose, if TikTok was banned, because then people would spend more time on Twitter and less on TikTok," Musk admitted. "But even though that would help Twitter, I would be generally against banning things."

On Tuesday, April 11, Musk tweeted "Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20." In the interview with BBC on Tuesday night, Musk confirmed that all legacy-verified blue checks will be removed from all accounts by the end of next week.

He also addressed celebrities and companies, like the New York Times, who have famously been outspoken about refusing to pay for a checkmark to make their account official. “It’s a small amount of money, so I don’t know what their problem is," Musk said Tuesday night. "We’re going to treat everyone equally.”

He also said that he will address the controversy over labeling the BBC as "government-funded media" and will change the level. “We’re adjusting the label to ‘publicly funded’ – we’ll try to be accurate,” Musk told the BBC, adding that he has the “utmost respect” for the organization.

Overall, the checkmark drama has brought a lot of unwanted attention to the social media network. Even Musk had to admit that he played a part in stirring up the drama, admitting that he "should not tweet after 3 AM."

However, he did go on to say that his time at Twitter has "not been boring," calling it "quite a rollercoaster." He also said that "This hasn't been some kind of party" and that the "pain level" of his "rollercoaster" has been "Extremely high."

Musk said that taking over Twitter has been “really quite a stressful situation over the last months," adding, "It’s been quite painful.”

It has definitely been a "painful" experience for those who have worked for Twitter, as many found themselves without a job after the Elon Musk takeover. On Tuesday night, Musk said that he reduced Twitter staff numbers from "just under 8,000" to around 1,500 people. However, he said that the layoffs were "painful" and "not fun at all."

He has also faced backlash for the way he has reacted to employees - both current and former - on social media. “Have I shot myself in the foot with tweets multiple times? Yes… I think I should not tweet after 3 AM,” Musk confessed.

On a lighter note, he also doubled down that his Shiba Inu dog Floki is the Chief Executive of Twitter after sharing several photoshopped photos of the dog in mid-February.

Musk also claimed that his ultimate goal was to make Twitter the "most accurate" platform that it can be." The SpaceX CEO was also asked if Twitter was properly moderating "hateful content" after it had been accused of removing established content guidelines.

Musk asked, "Who’s to say what’s right and wrong?" and claimed that assertions that the site is not as safe as it once was were"false."