This last week, Elon Musk made headlines for not playing along when he was interviewed at his Texas Gigafactory by The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes:

Here’s the full wide-ranging interview (it’s nearly an hour and a half). But the part that set off fireworks was this. Caleb Naysmith offers a transcript at Barchart:

The exchange began after Beddoes questioned why Musk believed he should weigh in on European politics despite not living there. Musk responded that he views “the West collectively” as important before Beddoes suggested that many people resent his influence.

“It’s why people loathe you,” Beddoes said. “Some people do loathe you.”

“Yes, some people do,” Musk replied.

Beddoes then pressed further, asking whether he understood why people felt that way and whether he believed his actions were helpful for Western democracy.

“Maybe some people do loathe me. And that’s probably true. I don’t care,” Musk said. “But the fact that, as you pointed out, a quarter billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don’t.”

He wasn’t finished.

“And I think a lot more people hate you and the media more than you realize,” Musk continued.

“Elon Musk Snaps Back at Reporter,” July 25, 2026

The massive response was polarized in familiar ways: From Daily Wire: “Elon Musk Flips The Script On Leftist Editor-In-Chief Who Says He Is ‘Loathed’”.

From Gizmodo: “The Tesla CEO has been avoiding normal journalists recently, even cancelling a planned interview with CNBC earlier this month. And it now seems pretty obvious why. Musk has a hard time answering normal questions about his often fascist and sometimes incoherent worldview.”

Don’t hate the media

Actually, the comment that attracted most of the attention is far from incoherent. To borrow a phrase, the internet is flipping the script on legacy media: People can afford to loathe traditional media for its missteps because they have alternatives in social media now.

Perhaps the prestigious 183-year-old Economist can weather the storm but the Washington Post is bleeding cash and — to take one example — legacy Canadian media have morphed into state media, supported by government and unlikely to seriously challenge it — once the media’s role.

Musk is not encouraging people to hate the media. His own view is that media have been democratized in the online world and his solution is: “Don’t hate the media, become the media.”

There is no going back.

He admits that he himself should spend less time on politics and more on rockets.