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Twitter CEO Elon Musk tore into Democrats 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.
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.
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.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also recently told reporters that the administration is keeping “an eye” on Twitter and Musk.
In separate news, a federal judge in San Francisco handed Musk a victory in a legal battle with former employees of the platform.
U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered the ex-staffers to drop their class-action lawsuit against Musk and pursue any claims against him through arbitration.
According to reports, the former employees accused Musk and Twitter of failing to give them adequate notice before they were laid off after the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO purchased the platform.
Ex-Twitter workers will have to pursue their claims in individual arbitration rather than through a class-action lawsuit, a judge rules https://t.co/4PhkfdYg9r
— Bloomberg (@business) January 14, 2023
After the ruling, attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represented the plaintiffs, said, “Insisting that workers file claims one by one has backfired for many companies our firm has taken on.”
“These companies think they can make employees just go away and not assert their rights by using arbitration clauses, but we have made them sorry about what they wished for,” she added.
“We anticipated this and that’s why we have already filed 500 individual arbitration demands – and counting. This is not a win for @elonmusk. Twitter still has to answer claims in court, on top of the arbitration battles,” she tweeted.
Before the ruling, she said: “Now that the severance agreements have been sent to employees, Elon Musk has proven us correct: Twitter is in fact trying to shortchange employees and break promises. Musk’s decision to fleece Twitter workers isn’t just shameful – it’s also going to be very costly. These claims will be extraordinarily expensive and time-consuming for Twitter to defend.”
In November, Musk took heat for laying off roughly half of Twitter’s 7,500 worldwide employees on Friday, but he’s since defended his action.
“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone [who] exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required,” he explained on the platform.
Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
He noted further that “Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged,” while noting that “hateful speech” on the platform had “declined below prior norms” since he acquired the platform, contrary to many expectations.
