Washington, D.C. Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted a link to an unfounded rumor about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, just days after Musk’s purchase of Twitter fueled concerns that the social media platform would no longer seek to limit misinformation and hate speech.
Musk’s tweet, which he later deleted, linked to an article by a fringe website, the Santa Monica Observer, an outlet that has previously asserted that Hillary Clinton died on Sept.
11 and had a body double in its stead.
The speaker’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was allegedly somehow involved in an intruder attack on the couple’s San Francisco home last week, an accusation that was reiterated in this case despite the lack of supporting evidence.
In response to a tweet from Hillary Clinton, Musk said this.
“It is startling, but not surprising,” she wrote in a tweet after criticising Republicans for in general fostering “hatred and insane conspiracy theories.”
In response to Clinton’s tweet, Musk provided a link to the Santa Monica Observer article and added, “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.
The Observer has been dubbed “notorious for fake news” by The Los Angeles Times, the leading news source in the Southern California region where it is based.
“According to San Francisco police, David DePape, 42, the attacker from last week, stormed into the Pelosi family’s Pacific Heights residence early on Friday and accosted Paul Pelosi, asking, as reported by the AP, “Where is Nancy?”
Officers responding to a 911 call to the residence saw DePape strike Paul Pelosi at least once before the two men engaged in a scuffle over a hammer, according to police. DePape was detained on charges of burglary, elder abuse, and attempted murder.
Charges will be filed by the prosecution on Monday, and his arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.
Police claim that the attack was “deliberate” and not accidental, although they have not made their opinion about the motive public.
A day prior to the conversation between Musk and Clinton, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, Yoel Roth, declared that the company’s standards regarding “slurs” and “hateful conduct” were still in effect.
“Front and centre: Twitter’s rules remain the same.
Hateful behaviour is not permitted here, Roth stated.
Musk told advertisers that Twitter will not turn into a “free for all hellscape” on Friday by creating a “content moderation committee” for the platform. Musk has previously referred to himself as a “absolutist of free speech.”
But at least one major advertiser, General Motors, has said it will suspend advertising on Twitter while it monitors the direction of the platform under Musk.
On Sunday as well, Sen.
Democratic senator from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar stated she didn’t trust Musk to run Twitter on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Klobuchar stated, “I think you have to have some content regulation,” alluding to DePape, the assault suspect, who promoted antisemitic conspiracies online.
The senator remarked, “If Elon Musk has now announced he’s going to form a content moderation board, that was one good sign. However, I’m still worried about it.
Simply said, I don’t believe anyone should profit from spreading this misinformation.
Musk tweets contain a reference to a false conspiracy idea.
About Author
