Netflix CEO calls Elon Musk “the bravest, most creative person on the planet”

Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings has described Elon Musk as “the bravest, most creative person on the planet”.

Hastings praised Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who recently acquired Twitter, during the New York Times DealBook conference (via Deadline).

“What he’s done in multiple areas is phenomenal,” Hastings said about Musk. “His style is different. I’m trying to be, like, a steady, respectable leader up here and he’s just out there.”

Hastings said he is “100 per cent convinced that [Musk] is trying to help the world in all of his endeavours”, explaining that he “could have built a mile-long yacht” with $44billion (£36billion), but instead acquired Twitter because he “believes in free speech and the powers of democracy”.

The Netflix CEO also sympathised with Musk’s struggles to revamp Twitter’s verification system with Twitter Blue, which led to issues with impersonation accounts and a slew of advertisers to abandon the platform.

Hastings said that “people are so picky on, the blue check mark, and yes he’s making a mess of some things. Can you give the guy a break? This guy just spent all this money trying to make things better for democracy and society, to have a more open platform, and I am sympathetic to that agenda”.

In a similar vein to Twitter, Netflix has faced scrutiny around content moderation in recent years. Last year, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended Dave Chappelle after his Netflix special, The Closer, was criticised over jokes that were deemed transphobic. The situation prompted staff walkouts in protest.

Last month, Netflix introduced a new ad-supported plan for subscribers priced at $6.99/ £4.99 a month, which was missing titles like Breaking Bad and Peaky Blinders.

Starting next year, subscribers will be charged an additional fee to share accounts between households, as the streaming service looks to crack down on password sharing.

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