Elon Musk masterfully shut down a pro-censorship BBC reporter last night. Musk stayed cool and collected the whole time as he simply asked questions to poke holes in the reporter's argument.

BBC reporter James Clayton asked Musk how he'll respond to claims that hate speech is on the rise on Twitter due to Musk's dramatic staffing cuts. Musk simply asked, "What hate speech are you talking about? I mean, you use Twitter. Do you see a rise in hate speech?"

Clayton claimed he personally sees more "hateful content." Musk clarified, "Content you don't like, or...describe a hateful thing." Clayton then said he means content that will solicit a reaction that is "slightly racist" or sexist, etc. etc.

Musk did not relent, asking, "So you think if something is slightly sexist, it should be banned?"

Crickets.

Musk kept pushing and asking for a single example of hateful content, until Clayton finally admitted, "Honestly, I don't... I don't actually use that feed anymore because I just don't particularly like it. And actually a lot of people are quite similar. I only look at my followers."

To which Musk asked, if he doesn't use the feed, how he has seen the hateful content. Which is a very valid point. Clayton then deflected to other organizations that have said there is more hateful content. To which Musk asked for an example. To which Clayton had none.

After Musk pointed out that Clayton had said something false by claiming to see hateful content, Clayton tried to change the topic to "COVID misinformation". But Musk wouldn't let him get away with it, and asked him about the BBC's COVID misinformation.

This guy definitely did not know what he was getting into when he stepped into the arena with Musk. Since Musk was very cordial and respectful the whole time, he was able to calmly dismantle the smears without getting too emotional or falling to personal attacks - signs of a great debater.

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Lily is a Zoomer college dropout who somehow landed a writing gig here at LwC.com. In her spare time, she enjoys going for runs, touching grass, and occasionally tweeting tweets for fellow tweeters.

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