SNP Government to continue posting on Elon Musk-owned X despite Humza Yousaf concerns

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The SNP Government will continue to use a social media platform owned by Elon Musk despite concerns raised by Humza Yousaf over privacy. The former first minister revealed this week his fears the tech billionaire may have been able to access his private messages following an online spat between the pair.

But an official spokesman said today the Government would continue to use a "range of platforms" to communicate its messages to the public. Yousaf admitted this week he had double-checked his old correspondence posted on Twitter - since renamed X - following a veiled threat from Musk.

The social media platform has lost millions of active users since the controversial tycoon completed a $40 billion takeover two years ago. It comes after the former SNP leader and the businessman clashed earlier this year after he branded the South African businessman "one of the most dangerous men on the planet".

The SNP MSP was sharply critical of Musk - the owner of the X social media platform - following comments he made in the wake of violent unrest in several English towns and cities in August.

Yousaf told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe: "He is accountable to nobody, he has vast wealth at his fingertips and he uses it for some of the most wicked evil I've seen." But Musk hit back in a series of messages: “He’s obviously super racist against white people. I dare that scumbag to sue me. Go ahead, make my day …”

In a second post Musk said: “Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications.” Yousaf said the threat from Musk prompted him to go through his old communications.

"I am certain he has a whole team of people who are looking at any information they can gather on me and try to use it to besmirch my reputation," he told a podcast hosted by Tortoise Media.

Asked why he looked through his private messages to check if there was anything incriminating, Yousaf added: "It was more out of complete and utter confusion of what the heck he was talking about.

"A very pointed accusation that he’s trying to make, and most people who commented underneath are saying the same thing, you know, ‘Go on Elon, release his Twitter DMs’. I’m thinking, I’ve been on Twitter for a long time, have I made an off-colour joke? Have I said something in a private communication? So, I thought I better do the belt and braces thing, and as I say there was nothing there, and unsurprisingly so.”

Asked whether he was concerned Musk’s reference to “private communications” may have been in reference to communications Yousaf had made outside of X, he said “that is genuinely the fear”.

The Tortoise podcast told its listeners there was no evidence to suggest that Musk has accessed Yousaf’s private messages, on or off of X, and that Musk has denied having ever accessed private messages on the platform.

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