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Taylor Greene Says Elon Musk Should Testify, Provide Information On Suspended Accounts

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is interested in what Twitter boss Elon Musk has to say about a number of issues related to the platform.

In a tweet, the Georgia Republican invited the billionaire to testify before the House when her party takes control in January, in particular, to discuss previously suspended or banned accounts.

“I’d like to invite Elon to share that with those of us who were permanently banned at an Oversight Hearing in the 118th Congress. That would be very kind of him and helpful in order to know who else we should invite (subpoena),” she tweeted, indicating that the GOP-led Congress could use legal means to force witness testimony.

Her tweet was in response to a post from a previously banned account, @alx, who wrote: “Raise your hand if you think @ElonMusk should provide previously suspended Twitter users with all internal discussions pertaining to the decision to permanently ban their account along with the exact reasoning upon their reinstatement to Twitter.”

Musk, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO, has generated a flood of liberal complaints over his reinstatement of previously banned accounts, including that of former President Donald Trump, who has yet to post his first tweet since the platform kicked him off after the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.

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But earlier this month, he also announced that he had reinstated both liberal and conservative accounts.

“Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated,” he tweeted at the time, adding that he put up a poll to gauge user support for or against reinstating Trump — which itself drew complaints.

Musk said in May that he would reverse Twitter’s permanent ban on Trump if his $44 billion bid to buy the social media company were successful, as it was.

Musk told the Financial Times that the ban “was morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”

The previous month, Trump said he “probably” would not return to Twitter if Musk reinstated his account.

In an interview with Sirius XM’s Americano Media, Trump said he “probably wouldn’t have any interest” in returning to the platform, where he had almost 90 million followers.

“You know, Twitter has become very boring. They’ve gotten rid of a lot of their good voices … a lot of their conservative voices,” Trump said.

Not long after Musk reinstated Trump, comedian Tim Young shared a story that he captioned: “It’s been a week since @elonmusk brought Trump back… and without him even tweeting once… The left can’t handle it.”

That set off a firestorm of tweets by Musk, who opined on the former president not tweeting and on who he would vote for in 2024.

“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America,” he said.

“As a reminder, I was a significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump.

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“But freedom of speech is the bedrock of a strong democracy and must take precedence. My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far,” he said.

In another tweet a user asked, “Would you support Ron DeSantis in 2024, Elon?” Musk responded, “Yes,” which sent the Florida Republican governor’s name straight to “trending” on the platform.

“But Twitter as a platform must be fair to all,” he said.

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When Trump’s account reappeared last week, so did all of his tweets, the last one of which was posted on January 8, 2021.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump tweeted.

Even though Trump has not posted any new tweets on his reinstated account, his last one nevertheless drew thousands of new responses, with many welcoming him back to Twitterverse.

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