Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce sheet connected user protection, said she was disquieted astir Twitter becoming “a level that is simply a sewer of hateful and harmful content” and planned to permission if Musk allowed it to go much of a Wild West.
The contiguous anxiousness comes from a mendacious communicative astir the brutal onslaught connected Paul Pelosi, hubby of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that Musk personally tweeted implicit the weekend. Musk has present deleted the tweet, but the communicative continues to ricochet astir the blimpish governmental world.
In the larger sense, governmental players are disquieted that Musk’s promises to bring Twitter’s policies person successful enactment with his ain ideas astir authorities and society, arsenic good arsenic his firing of its apical accountability executives, volition permanently alteration a level they’ve travel to trust on, and spot to constabulary misinformation and hatred speech.
Musk has near nary uncertainty who’s successful complaint of the institution since helium took Twitter backstage Thursday night. He renamed himself “Chief Twit” connected his authoritative bio, and told the Securities and Exchange Commission that helium dissolved the committee and named himself sole director.
Musk himself acknowledged the concerns astir Twitter’s aboriginal straight past week erstwhile helium assured advertisers that Twitter wouldn’t go a “hellscape” and volition beryllium “warm and welcoming to all.” He besides promised to acceptable up a “content moderation council” that volition presumably acceptable standards for policing the site.
Late connected Saturday Yoel Roth, Twitter’s caput of information and integrity, tweeted that the company’s contented moderation policies “hadn’t changed.” Musk himself pointed to Roth’s tweet to assuage concerns raised by NBA star LeBron James, pursuing a report of a 500% increase of radical slurs connected the level 12 hours aft Musk’s takeover.
And erstwhile a idiosyncratic suggested that Roth should beryllium fired, Musk tweeted that: “We’ve each made immoderate questionable tweets, maine much than most, but I privation to beryllium wide that I enactment Yoel. My consciousness is that helium has precocious integrity, and we are each entitled to our governmental beliefs.”
For now, it’s not wide what unhappy Democrats are going to do. Even its critics are inactive connected the level — “It’s truly hard to gully a line. Collectively radical successful the nationalist oculus volition cognize erstwhile it’s clip to prime up store and leave,” said Jablonowski. Some are vowing to enactment simply to forestall it being taken implicit by misinformation and trolls.
Republicans agelong frustrated by what they spot arsenic Twitter’s too-liberal moderation policies person launched rival platforms implicit the past respective years — astir prominently Parler, Gettr and Donald Trump’s Truth Social — though nary has go the benignant of nationalist quadrate that Twitter has.
Neera Tanden, the erstwhile Hillary Clinton advisor present serving arsenic White House unit secretary, connected Sunday tweeted from her idiosyncratic relationship a petition for alternative platforms, eliciting a fistful of suggestions for societal media sites extracurricular Musk’s orbit, with nary evident statement and nary coming adjacent to the idiosyncratic basal of Twitter.
Some pushback
In the lack of a concerted Democratic effort, determination person been a fewer evident shots astatine Musk.
With conscionable 8 days until the midterm elections, Musk apt isn’t apical of caput for astir lawmakers, peculiarly Democrats who are campaigning to debar losing power of some chambers of Congress.
But Monday morning, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted that he’s requesting an probe of Musk’s investors successful Twitter, specifically the engagement of Saudi Arabia. Though his petition seemed to beryllium based connected a Bloomberg study that the Committee connected Foreign Investment successful the United States was looking into the deal, that study was a week old, and his tweet came archetypal happening successful the greeting connected the Monday aft Musk’s play Pelosi tweet. (Murphy’s bureau declined to remark astir the timing of the letter.)
Regulators successful Europe person besides taken enactment of the imaginable changes successful Musk-era Twitter, and person warned the institution that it needs to abide by EU contented moderation rules, and Musk has reportedly responded to their concerns.
Advocacy groups person continued to dependable the alarm astir what they spot arsenic Musk’s indifference to the consequences of what helium puts connected the platform. Bridget Todd, communications manager of the sex equity radical UltraViolet, saw Musk’s play tweet arsenic “very serious. I deliberation that we’re past the constituent of this being a concern communicative astir acquiring a institution — it has precise existent satellite implications that we saw connected Jan. 6, that we saw connected the onslaught connected Pelosi.”
Yael Eisenstat, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Technology and Society, likewise raised alarms, but said it wasn’t wide wherever advocates would spell alternatively of Twitter. “The world is there’s not an incredibly competitory scenery yet,” Eisenstat said.
Brendan Bordelon and Mohar Chatterjee contributed to this report.
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