Introducing...Elon's Spies
Elon Musk is one of the most powerful men in the world. He's a billionaire, the founder of SpaceX, Tesla and more. To his followers, he's a hero; to his critics, a far-right rabble rouser.
But for someone so public, there’s one part of his life that’s less well known.
Elon’s Spies investigates how this free-speech champion uses private investigators and surveillance to target everyone from whistleblowers at his companies, to online critics and people in his own life.
Episode 1 is available on Tuesday 8th October, with episodes releasing weekly. To get ad-free access and binge listen to all 3 episodes on Tuesday 8th October, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or by becoming a Tortoise member.
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Reporter: Alexi Mostrous
Producer: Gary Marshall
Original Music & Sound design: Tom Kinsella
Podcast artwork: Jon Hill
Executive producer: Ceri Thomas
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Listen and Follow Along
Full Transcript
Sometimes, as a journalist, a story you thought was over, it's just the start of something else. Last year, my colleague Basher was working on an investigation about a serial fantasist.
Her reporting threw up an intriguing detail about someone unexpected. And I think that you came across something about Musk and private investigators.
Yes. So he told people that Elon Musk had put private investigators on him.
Elon Musk. An ambitious billionaire, a free speech absolutist, one of the most powerful men in the world.
To many, he's a hero. But to his critics, he's a far-right rabble-rouser.
He is somebody who is exceptionally dangerous, like most sociopaths, like most privileged men in his position. They don't like being challenged.
Basher had discovered that Musk had used private investigators to gather information on someone without their knowledge. And it got me thinking, what if this was just the start of something bigger? I find it difficult to talk about because I think it's the most disgusting thing that you can call anybody really, and even to the extent where he got a private investigator on me.
What if this free speech champion behaves very differently in private? Just speaking about it makes me anxious and my hands are like rubbing my hands. What if he uses his resources to suppress critics and to shape the reality around him? We have an active shooter threat.
Martin Tripp is on his way to the Gigafactory, threatening to shoot people up and shoot the place up. I hadn't yet dealt with Elon Musk, so I didn't necessarily know that he would then hire people to investigate.
Was it or was it that you were told not to say that Tesla had private investigators following him? Both. I had a very scary note taped on my door, like American mobile number.
And I was like, hi, how'd you go?
It was like, Sally, it's Elon.
And I was like, what the hell?
From Tortoise Media, this is Elon's Spies.
I would have to say he's the most brilliant man I've ever met, the most ambitious man I've ever met, and the one person that you don't ever want to fight with or underestimate. Episode 1 launches on Tuesday the 8th of October on Tortoise Investigates, the home for all our investigative shows.
You can binge listen to the entire series ad-free on the 8th by subscribing to Tortoise Plus on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify, or by downloading the Tortoise app.
