@sbsnews_au: "Why people loathe you": US tech billionaire Elon Musk has said he disagrees that his social media platform X has given rise to "polarised environments" across the world. In an interview with The Economist's editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, Elon was asked about his 250 million followers on X, his contribution to Western democracy and some of his claims, including his view that a "civil war in Britain is inevitable". Defending his takes, Musk said: "A quarter billion people follow me ... I think a lot more people actually like me." "A lot more people hate you and the media more than you realise," he told Beddoes. Musk is the world's richest person, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owns the social media platform X. He was briefly the world's first trillionaire following SpaceX's IPO earlier in 2026.