https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-buying-twitter-puts-our-democracy-at-stake-civil-rights-advocates-say-11665006723?mod=article_inline
Elon Musk buying Twitter ‘puts our democracy at stake,’ civil-rights
advocates say
Last Updated: Oct. 6, 2022 at 8:05 a.m. ET
First Published: Oct. 5, 2022 at 5:52 p.m. ET
By Levi Sumagaysay
Right-wing figures are looking to Musk as their 'free-speech' champion
and celebrated the news when he offered to buy Twitter in April
Elon Musk is set to buy Twitter after all, and the deal could close next
week. AP/Eric Risberg
With Elon Musk on track to own Twitter Inc. as early as next week,
civil-rights organizations voiced fear that hate speech, extremism and
misinformation could increase on the platform just before the midterm
elections.
Twitter TWTR, +0.66% in recent years has banned or suspended foreign and
domestic terrorists, white supremacists and COVID-19 deniers in an
attempt to crack down on abuse and harassment on the platform.
Musk has said he would allow former President Donald Trump and likely
others who have been banned to return to the platform, which has been
attempting to combat misinformation and disinformation campaigns since
the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House. In May, Musk called
Twitter’s removal of Trump from the platform after the Jan. 6, 2021,
insurrection “a morally bad decision.”
Text messages revealed recently as part of the legal battle between
Twitter and Musk also reflect the expectation that the Tesla Inc. TSLA,
+0.20% chief executive — who has called himself a free-speech absolutist
— is set to side with people who have been banned from Twitter.
“Are you going to liberate Twitter from the censorship happy mob?”
podcaster Joe Rogan texted Musk, to which Musk responded, “I will
provide advice, which they may or may not choose to follow.”
In a text to Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Musk said, “would be
great to unwind permanent bans, except for spam accounts and those that
explicitly advocate violence.”
Another text to Musk, from someone whose name was redacted, said: “It
will be a delicate game of letting right wingers back on Twitter and how
to navigate that.”
Right-wing figures are looking to Musk as their “free-speech” champion
and celebrated the news when he offered to buy Twitter in April. They
include Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has been suspended by the
social network for tweeting in support of tweets that misgendered U.S.
Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, the first trans cabinet
official, and reportedly said Musk buying Twitter “could turn out to be
a pivot point in our history.” (Fox News parent Fox Corp. FOXA, -2.76%
and News Corp NWSA, -1.53%, the parent of MarketWatch publisher Dow
Jones, share common ownership.)
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican whose personal
account was permanently kicked off Twitter for spreading COVID-19
misinformation, tweeted from her congressional account that she expects
her personal account will be restored when Musk “seals the deal.”
After foreign actors helped spread fake news on social networks that is
believed to have impacted the 2016 elections, online platforms have
stepped up moderation efforts. With the midterm elections about a month
away, changes at Twitter could affect the dissemination of
election-related misinformation, said Evan Feeney, deputy senior
campaign director at the racial-justice organization Color of Change. He
said it could all have “a destabilizing effect” on the election.
Musk “controlling every aspect” of Twitter “underscores the crisis we’re
facing across tech companies when a single billionaire is in charge,”
Feeney said. “It puts our democracy at stake.”
Misinformation and disinformation proliferated on Facebook META, -24.56%
— which is majority controlled by billionaire co-founder and CEO Mark
Zuckerberg — before, during and after the 2016 elections. The company
has since taken steps to combat fake news on its platform, and has also
banned Trump and others.
“Twitter reaches more than just its users,” said Jelani Drew-Davi,
campaigns director for Kairos Action, an organization that works on
campaigns that involve technology, racial justice and democracy. “It’s a
place of huge global and political significance.”
Referring to the the deadly “Unite the Right” white-supremacist rally in
2017 that was largely organized online, Drew-Davi said online abuse can
“leak” offline: “Before Charlottesville, I didn’t think I realized how
much power the internet had.”
A year after the rally, Kairos, Color of Change and other advocacy
groups formed or joined Change the Terms, a coalition to push online
platforms to step up their efforts against hate, abuse and
misinformation, which they said have resulted in changes at Twitter and
elsewhere.
Read more: Elon Musk intends to move forward with original $44 billion
deal for Twitter
The women’s advocacy group UltraViolet has tracked online platforms’
policies and practices in protecting women from abuse. Last year, it
released a report card that graded online platforms on how well they
were serving women, and it showed Twitter had made some progress. It had
the second-best overall grade, a C-, behind Reddit, which got a C. The
group gave Twitter an A for its policy of allowing witnesses to a policy
violation to report it, and Bs for including misogyny in its
transparency reports; creating a clear moderation process; and building
algorithms that push users to engage with reliable sources of information.
“We should all be terrified” of a possible rollback of that progress,
said Bridget Todd, communications director at UltraViolet, in a statement.
They have acted on that fear. UltraViolet, Kairos, Media Matters for
America and about two dozen other advocacy groups for women, people of
color and members of the LGBTQ community sent a letter to advertisers in
May, urging them to insist that a Musk-owned Twitter stick to standards
that include keeping actors who engage in abuse, harassment and
misinformation off the platform.
“As top advertisers on Twitter, your brand risks association with a
platform amplifying hate, extremism, health misinformation, and
conspiracy theorists,” the letter said.
Twitter did not return a request for comment.
Trump, for his part, has said he does not plan to return to Twitter and
intends to remain on his own social-media platform, Truth Social. Truth
Social, like other fledgling social-media networks where conservatives
have flocked in recent years because of their lack of content
moderation, have not been able to compete with the reach that Twitter
offers.
The special-purpose acquisition company that has agreed to buy Truth
Social, Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC, -3.97%, saw shares decline
5.3% Tuesday, but rebounded slightly Wednesday. Its shares have been
trading at their lowest prices since the acquisition was announced in
recent weeks.
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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-completes-twitter-purchase-fires-ceo-and-other-top-execs-reports-1166691850
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Elon Musk completes Twitter purchase, fires CEO and other top execs: reports
Last Updated: Oct. 27, 2022 at 9:30 p.m. ET
First Published: Oct. 27, 2022 at 8:55 p.m. ET
By Levi Sumagaysay
Elon Musk has completed his purchase of Twitter, according to multiple
media reports. Associated Press
Twitter Inc. is now owned by Elon Musk, with multiple media outlets
reporting Thursday night that the long-anticipated sale had officially
closed.
The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and others reported, based on
unnamed sources, that the top executives of Twitter TWTR, +0.66% were
fired and escorted from the building, including Chief Executive Parag
Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of
legal policy, trust and safety.
Opinion: Twitter stood up to Elon Musk and won, but will it feel like a
win once he owns it?
The acquisition ends months of legal wrangling after Musk, the
billionaire CEO of Tesla Inc. TSLA, +0.20% and SpaceX and a frequent
Twitter user, offered to buy Twitter in April. After reaching an
agreement with Twitter’s board to buy the social media company for $44
billion, Musk tried to back out of the deal and Twitter sued him. He
faced a Friday deadline to complete the deal or face trial.
See: Elon Musk buying Twitter ‘puts our democracy at stake,’
civil-rights advocates say
Thursday morning, Musk signaled a deal was imminent when he tweeted a
statement aimed at assuring advertisers, some of whom might be concerned
about his plans for content moderation. Musk has said one of his
motivations for buying the platform is related to complaints about
censorship, mostly from people who have been banned because they have
violated Twitter’s terms of service.
“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where
anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk said in his statement
to advertisers Thursday.
Twitter did not immediately return a request for comment late Thursday.
Twitter shares have rallied 26% over the past month, closing Thursday at
$53.70, close to the $54.20 share price Musk agreed to pay in April.
