Scotland’s former first minister, Humza Yousaf, has accused tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of accessing his private messages as part of a bid to “besmirch” his reputation.

The ex-SNP leader claimed in a Tortoise Media podcast that the X owner “scours” the communications of people he views as a “threat”.

He said he was “certain” the billionaire had access to his private communications on the platform.

The podcast said it understood Musk had denied ever accessing private messages on X.

The Tesla owner, who has been chosen for a cost-cutting role in Donald Trump’s US government, has been involved in a long-running, bitter spat with Yousaf.

That escalated over the summer during far-right riots in England and Northern Ireland.

The former first minister described Musk as a “race baiter” and “one of the most dangerous men on the planet”.

The X owner replied by calling Yousaf a racist “scumbag”, posting: “I dare that scumbag to sue me.”

He added: “Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications.”

Speaking to the Elon’s Spies podcast, Yousaf described the comment as an attempt to “threaten and intimidate” him.

“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,” he said. “And they’ll use any nefarious tactics in order to do that.”

The former first minister said he interpreted Musk’s post as a “pointed accusation”, noting that people commented underneath urging the X owner to “release” private messages.

Yousaf told the podcast: “I’m thinking, I’ve been on Twitter for a long time, have I made an off-colour joke? Have I said something in a private communication?

“So, I thought I better do the belt and braces thing, and as I say there was nothing there, and unsurprisingly so.

“But here is somebody who is basically saying to me by the way ‘you better watch out; I’m going to release stuff on you and it’s going to make your life hell’.”

Yousaf repeated claims that the Trump-supporting tech entrepreneur was a racist, with “far-right, white supremacist tendencies”.

He added: “Elon Musk could have trillions let alone billions and he wouldn’t have enough to shut me up.”

X has been approached for comment.