Again in February, X proprietor Elon Musk known as out 60 Minutes as “the most important liars on the planet” and mentioned its reporters “deserve an extended jail sentence.” Two days later, 60 Minutes made its remaining put up on the social media app and hasn’t returned since. The present’s account on X (previously Twitter) has 1.2 million followers and was very lively till it quietly stopped posting seven months in the past, usually sharing a number of tweets a day with followers.
So what has occurred to it, and did Musk power 60 Minutes to go silent?
Terrible Saying‘s Sam Neumann reported on the state of affairs, noting how CBS’ long-running information journal program hasn’t posted on X since February 19, 2025. The final posts function interview clips with Bob Dylan, Timothée Chalamet, and Chalamet’s highschool drama instructor, Harry Shifman, discussing the Dylan biopic A Full Unknown.
As Neumann wrote, “the most-watched newsmagazine in America, a present that’s been appointment tv for 57 years — simply stopped tweeting.”
60 Minutes continues to put up on different social media platforms, together with Fb, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Bluesky, so it isn’t a case of the present abandoning social media altogether. In the meantime, different CBS Information and CBS packages proceed to put up on X, so it isn’t as if CBS has stopped utilizing Musk’s app completely.
So what occurred? In February, 60 Minutes aired a phase concerning the funding cuts to america Company for Worldwide Improvement by the Trump administration, led partly by Musk, who on the time was heading up the non-official Division of Authorities Effectivity.
“It was Musk who known as USAID staff ‘worms,’” host Scott Pelley mentioned on the present, as seen within the video beneath. “In a put up, he gloated about feeding the company into the ‘wooden chipper.’ The world’s richest man reduce off help for the world’s poorest households. Musk spent almost $250 million to get Trump and different Republicans elected. He collects billions in taxpayer {dollars} for his SpaceX rockets.”
After the present posted a hyperlink to the story on X on February 17, Musk replied, writing, “60 Minutes are the most important liars on the planet! They engaged in deliberate deception to intrude with the final election. They deserve an extended jail sentence.”
60 Minutes are the most important liars on the planet! They engaged in deliberate deception to intrude with the final election.
They deserve an extended jail sentence. https://t.co/de20vXO62X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025
Two days later, 60 Minutes made its remaining put up on X and hasn’t returned to the platform since. The query is, why? Did the present select to go away the app of its personal volition? Or did Musk have the present silenced?
“When authorities officers can threaten to jail journalists for editorial choices, and information organizations really feel compelled to restrict their distribution in response, that’s a democracy story, not only a media story,” Neumann said, including, “it says a fantastic deal concerning the trendy political and media setting” that 60 Minutes’ exit from X went so lengthy with being observed.
60 Minutes has been underneath hearth over the previous yr since President Donald Trump sued the present, CBS, and Paramount after he claimed his then-presidential rival, Kamala Harris, was edited in a technique to make her look higher throughout the election.
Whereas many authorized consultants agreed that Trump’s claims had been baseless, the swimsuit was taken critically, partly, resulting from Paramount International’s merger with Skydance Media, which required authorities approval. On Tuesday, July 1, Paramount International mentioned it could pay $16 million to Trump as a part of the settlement.
In April, Pelley advised viewers reside on air that the present’s longtime producer, Invoice Owens, had chosen to depart after Paramount bosses reportedly requested this system to carry off on tales criticizing Trump.
CBS and 60 Minutes has but to touch upon the X state of affairs.
60 Minutes, Sundays, 7/6 c, CBS