Elon Musk says he can’t fix Twitter ‘overnight while still running Tesla and SpaceX,’ after reports the platform blocked a BBC documentary

Late on Wednesday, the Twitter CEO said he was not aware of the social media platform’s decision to censor links to a BBC documentary critical of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, implying he was stretched in running multiple companies at once.

“It is not possible for me to fix every aspect of Twitter worldwide overnight, while still running Tesla and SpaceX,” he tweeted.

Musk is the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, and is also involved in brain computer startup Neuralink. Some of Musk’s shareholders have grumbled over his simultaneous leadership of multiple companies, with some Tesla investors arguing that his leadership of Twitter hurts Tesla’s brand and drags down its stock price. 

Tesla shares had a dismal 2022, falling 65% in their biggest-ever annual decline. Yet shares in the electric carmaker have since rebounded, up 33.6% from the start of the year. Tesla reported $24.32 billion of fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday, beating expectations and up by around a third year-on-year. 

Musk has pushed back against assertions that he can’t manage Tesla and Twitter at the same time. On a Twitter space last December, Musk told listeners that he hadn’t missed “a single important Tesla meeting” since becoming CEO of Twitter. And on a call with analysts on Wednesday, Musk described his Twitter feed as an asset, calling it “an incredibly powerful tool for driving demand for Tesla.”