[kbenson]

I would think it's more likely to be used as blackmail material, where they threaten to release them publicly if they aren't paid.

In that case, it's irrelevant what the public thinks of them, all that matters is what the blackmailed individual's ability to pay and what they thinks about the public seeing them.

Put another way, maybe Musk's DMs being leaked doesn't actually change anything, but maybe Musk feels like it changes a lot for him, either personally or professionally. That's worth money to someone with the DMs.

[nickff]

It's possible (though perhaps unlikely) that there are DMs that could get him 'cancelled'. I would guess that is the leverage that DM-blackmailers would use.

[kbenson]

Sure, but I was actually commenting on how it doesn't have to be DMs that will get him cancelled. It only has to be DMs that look bad enough that he thinks something like that might happen. Or even some smaller thing.

If you're Musk with his money and resources, what's $10k or $20k to keep knowledge out of the public that you slept with your friend's or some random famous person's wife, or cheated on your girlfriend? The amount of money something like that is worth is relative to available money to the person and what the personal cost is to spend it. How much does it hurt Musk to spend $100k? Would he spend that much to try to keep knowledge of someone woman pregnant with his child getting an abortion? I think probably, if he thought he could keep the fact he paid secret if it came out later, since that would only make any story worse (regardless of how he feels about abortion, paying a lot to keep it secret is just fuel for any criticism while also being worthwhile for anyone that wants privacy).