Musk’s tweet quickly became the focus of critics.
Washington:
New Twitter boss Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted an anti-LGBT conspiracy theory about what happened the night the husband of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked, after outlining concerns about the platform’s future. The ditch was that it would not become a “free hellscape for all”.
Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech autocrat”, was responding to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who tweeted to draw a line between Republicans who lash out at baseless conspiracy theories and Paul Pelosi in San Francisco. promote attack.
Attaching a link to the story by the conservative Santa Monica Observer, Musk told Clinton, “There may be more potential in this story than meets the eye.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the weekly outlet has published other conspiracy theories in the past, including that a body double for Clinton was sent to an argument with Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign.
Musk’s tweet quickly became a focal point for critics who were nervous about where he wanted to take Twitter, the leading platform for global discourse and diplomacy.
Musk, whose outspoken and controversial tweets have caused trouble in the past, has vowed to dial back content moderation, relying more on computer algorithms than human monitors. Conservatives say past moderation has unfairly targeted their views.
In a message to reassure Twitter advertisers jittery over his leadership, Musk said earlier this week that he knew Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where nothing happens without consequences.” Can be called.”
But opponents warn that without standards, the world’s “digital town square” risks flooding with misinformation, potentially with dangerous consequences for democracy and public health.
“Clinton: Conspiracy theories are killing people and we shouldn’t escalate them. Twitter owner: But have you considered this conspiracy theory?” After Musk’s Sunday tweet, University of Denver political scientist Seth Muskett wrote.
Muskete later tweeted a screenshot suggesting he had complained to Twitter about Musk’s tweet, adding: “Somehow I doubt much will come of it.”
– Troll Campaign Test Musk –
Nancy Pelosi, second in line to the US presidency, has said her family is “heartbroken and traumatized” after an intruder broke into the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. , which broke his skull.
The 82-year-old is recovering in the hospital.
President Joe Biden has said the attack appeared to be “for Nancy,” and called for increasingly polarizing political rhetoric.
“The Republican Party and its mouthpiece now routinely spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence results,” Clinton said in her tweet.
Musk’s response came just hours after Twitter said the site was being targeted by a trolling campaign led by the billionaire testing its moderation policies.
Joel Roth, the platform’s security and integrity chief, tweeted: “Twitter’s policies haven’t changed… and we’re taking steps to stop the organized effort to trick people into thinking we have.”
Roth said that “a small number of accounts” had posted “a ton” of hateful content — including 50,000 tweets using a particular abuse made by just 300 accounts.
That said, “almost all” accounts are unauthenticated.
Roth also retweeted a Musk post in which the Tesla chief reiterated that “we have yet to make any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)