Elon Musk grills BBC reporter during interview about Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk and a BBC reporter got into a heated exchange this week at Twitter headquarters.

In the interview with BBC's James Clayton, Musk talked about what has happened since he bought Twitter, from laying off workers to controversial tweets to sleeping at the office. 

But one specific part of the interview has been circulating on social media, when the reporter mentioned Twitter has seen a recent rise in hateful content, including racist and sexist posts, and Musk pushed him on the claim. 

Musk asked the reporter for an example of the hateful content he was referring to, but Clayton could not give one. Here's a condensed version of the exchange:

"Do you see a rise in hate speech?" asked Musk.

"You've asked me my feelings whether it's gotten less or more, I'd say it's gotten slightly more," the reporter said.

"I'm asking for specific examples," said Musk. "You say you've been seeing more hateful content yet you can't give me a single example, not a single one."

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"I'm not sure I've used that feed for the last 3 or 4 weeks," the reporter said.

"I'd say, sir, that you don't know what you're talking about." said Musk. 

"Really?" asked Clayton.

"Yes, because you can't give me a single example of hateful content, not even one tweet, and yet you've claimed the hateful content is high," said Musk. "That's false. You just lied."

"Let's move on," replied Clayton, changing the topic.

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After the interview, BBC reported that Musk refused to accept there was more hateful content on the platform since he took over.

"Speaking to the BBC earlier this year, some Twitter insiders have argued that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-coordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, following lay-offs and changes under owner Mr Musk," the BBC reported.