Elon Musk Talks “Painful” Twitter Ownership, Updates On Blue Checks, BBC Government-Funded Tag, Staff Cuts, Dog CEO & More

deadline.com:

In a last-minute interview given to the BBC overnight, Twitter owner Elon Musk said his time at the social media platform has been “a rollercoaster” with a “high pain level”.

Delivering updates on a number of his more controversial decisions, he said “mistakes [have been] made along the way” but that the social media giant is “headed to a good place.” During the live interview at Twitter headquarters late on Tuesday night local time, Musk also addressed the controversy over the social media platform labeling the BBC as “government-funded media” and said that distinction will be changed. “We’re adjusting the label to ‘publicly funded’ – we’ll try to be accurate,” Musk, who has the “utmost respect” for the organization, said.

The BBC said Musk agreed unexpectedly to be interviewed at the last minute. During the tell-all discussion, the billionaire businessman also provided an update on the site’s blue check mark cull and conceded that he “should not tweet after 3am.”  Legacy verified blue checks will be removed from all accounts by next week, Musk noted.

He separately tweeted that the final date is April 20. Regarding media companies like the New York Times who have refused to pay for a checkmark, Musk told the BBC, “It’s a small amount of money, so I don’t know what their problem is.