Humza Yousaf has publicly accused Elon Musk of accessing his private messages as part of a campaign to intimidate him.
The former fist minister claimed Musk - the owner of X, the social media site - “scours” the confidential communications of people he sees as a threat.
The two men have had online spats since Yousaf was first minister. During unrest in parts of England and Northern Ireland this summer, Yousaf referred to Musk as a “race baiter” and claimed he was “one of the most dangerous men on the planet”.
The Tesla owner replied by claiming Yousaf is “obviously super racist against white people”.
Musk said: “I dare that scumbag to sue me. Go ahead, make my day,” adding: “Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications.”
Mr Yousaf has now claimed Mr Musk’s comments were an attempt to “threaten and intimidate” him.
When asked if he thinks Musk had access to his X messages, Yousaf told Tortoise Media’s Elon’s Spies podcast: “I’m certain he absolutely does and I’m certain he scours the private messages of those that he sees as a threat.
“In fact, I’m certain he has a whole team of people who are now looking at any information they can gather on me and try to use it to besmirch my reputation, and he’ll use any nefarious tactics in order to do that.”
Musk has denied accessing private messages on X.