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Twitter CEO Elon Musk tore into Democrats this week after a few appeared to threaten him with investigations after he took over the social media platform. Musk went after those who he described as “major Democrat politicians” for “coordinated” attacks against him, Fox News reported.
Musk responded on Twitter to a tweet from user Jason Debolt, who pointed out how Democrat lawmakers have recently begun to attack Musk, noting that the billionaire had not inserted himself into political debates and issues beforehand.
“Elon wasn’t super political on Twitter until Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren started attacking him for no reason. Then others followed. Of all the dudes they could have attacked, they chose the guy most capable of helping government solve problems. Strange choice,” Debolt tweeted.
Musk responded in agreeance and suggested that those Democrats were just “actors on the political stage.”
“Several other major Democrat politicians attacked me too, all around the same time. It was coordinated. Outside of party leadership and independents like Manchin, they are essentially actors on the political stage, not directors or script writers,” Musk tweeted.
Several other major Democrat politicians attacked me too, all around the same time. It was coordinated.
Outside of party leadership and independents like Manchin, they are essentially actors on the political stage, not directors or script writers.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 29, 2022
Senate Democrats have since threatened investigations into Musk’s purchase of Twitter, while the Biden White House has also said the administration will be monitoring how the platform functions as well.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called on the administration to look into Musk’s acquisition on Nov. 1, suggesting that Saudi Arabia has undue influence on the platform. And Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has also threatened to push new regulations for Twitter after Musk failed to respond to a letter he sent regarding user verification.
Musk responded by trolling Dems over the party’s refusal to look into the burgeoning scandal involving crypto exchange FTX and its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, after tens of billions in losses.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a Reuters reporter the administration is keeping “an eye” on Twitter and Musk.
“There’s a researcher at Stanford who says that this is a critical moment, really, in terms of ensuring that Twitter does not become a vector of misinformation,” correspondent Andrea Shalal said. “Elon Musk says there’s more and more subscribers coming online, are you concerned about that, and what tools do you have – who is it at the White House that is really keeping track of this?”
“So, look, this is something that we’re certainly keeping an eye on. And, look, we — you know, we have always been very clear and — that when it comes to social media platforms, it is their responsibility to make sure that when it comes to misinformation, when we — when it comes to the hate that we’re seeing, that they take action, that they continue to take action,” she said, without providing any specifics.
“Again, we’re all keeping a close eye on this. We’re all monitoring what’s — what’s currently occurring. And we see — you know, we see it with our own eyes of what you all are reporting and, just for ourselves, what’s happening on Twitter. But again, social media companies have a responsibility to prevent their platforms from being used by any user to incite violence, especially violence directed at individual communities, as we have been seeing,” she added, again without elaborating.
Musk also cleared the air this week after meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, where the two men talked about some important things. It came after many had called for Apple to remove Twitter from the App Store after Musk became CEO.
“Thanks Tim Cook for taking me around Apple’s beautiful HQ,” he said in a tweet showing scenery from the tech giant’s headquarters. “Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.”
Musk announced on Monday that Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter, which would make it one of the most high-profile companies to pull ads from the social media platform.
