Twitter’s new owner hailed the ability to fact check the White House, but lets pro-censorship organizations impact the platform’s policies
Elon Musk has vowed to make Twitter the world’s most accurate source of information, stating that his platform allows regular users to debunk confusing claims by the US government. However, Musk said that he will allow a coalition of censorship advocates a say in shaping his policies.
“Our goal is to make Twitter the most accurate source of information on Earth, without regard to political affiliation,” Musk tweeted on Wednesday, under a screenshot of a user adding context to a misleading claim by the White House.
The community notes feature is awesome. Our goal is to make Twitter the most accurate source of information on Earth, without regard to political affiliation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Using Twitter’s limited ‘Community Notes’ feature, a user pointed out that a claim by the administration of US President Joe Biden that “seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership” lacks context. Instead, the increase accounts for the rising cost of living, as inflation has climbed from 1.4% to 8.2% during Biden’s time in office.
Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion last week, and immediately set about making changes to the business. The billionaire has since dissolved Twitter’s board of directors, announced plans to charge users for verification, and declared his intent to serve as the company’s CEO.
While Musk stated that his acquisition of Twitter was aimed at bringing the platform back to its free speech roots, he has not yet made any changes to its content moderation policies. In a tweet on Tuesday, Musk said that he had met with “civil society leaders,” including representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change and the George Bush Presidential Center, and would include such groups on Twitter’s “content moderation council.”
All of these organizations have advocated for online censorship in various forms, and Twitter’s current Head of Safety & Integrity Yoel Roth is on record calling the supporters of former President Donald Trump “actual Nazis.”
Dear @elonmusk,I want you to succeed at Twitter.This critique is based only on cold hard facts:You will never restore “public trust” at Twitter when the guy in charge thinks 100,000,000 Americans who support America First are “Literal Nazis”Not possible.@yoyoel must go pic.twitter.com/yUAabQPgdo
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 2, 2022
Conservative pundit Benny Johnson urged Musk to fire Roth, along with anyone else who took part in Twitter’s censorship of damaging information from Hunter Biden’s laptop. Johnson also called on Musk to ensure that conservatives are represented on Twitter’s safety board.
“Absolutely agreed that the Twitter safety board should have people from all viewpoints,” the SpaceX and Tesla CEO replied.
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