Elon Musk today 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.
The Santa Monica Observer, a fringe publication that has previously claimed that Hillary Clinton died on September 11 and was replaced by a body duplicate, was the source of Musk’s post, which he later removed.
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 that violence results from Republicans’ widespread promotion of “hatred and insane conspiracy theories,” she wrote in a tweet.
Musk tweeted in reaction to Clinton’s tweet, “There is a little probability there might be more to this tale than meets the eye,” along with a link to the Santa Monica Observer piece.
The Observer has been referred to as being “notorious for fake news” by The Los Angeles Times, the preeminent news source in the Southern California region where it is based.
According to San Francisco police, David DePape, the 42-year-old attacker from last week, stormed into the Pelosi family’s Pacific Heights residence on Saturday and approached 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 today, and his arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow.
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.
First and foremost, Twitter’s rules remain unchanged.
Hateful behaviour is not permitted here, Roth stated.
Soon after Musk took over Twitter, some users started using the service to test what Twitter would now permit, posting everything from racist epithets to political rumours like “Trump won.”
Musk told advertisers that the website would not turn into a “free for all hellscape” on Saturday and said that he would create a “content moderation committee” for Twitter.
Musk has previously referred to himself as a “absolutist of free speech.”
However, at least one significant sponsor, General Motors, has declared that it will halt its Twitter advertising while it keeps an eye on the way the site is taking under Musk.
On NBC’s Meet the Press today, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, stated that she did not trust Musk to run Twitter.
Klobuchar stated, “I think you have to have some content control,” in reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory and antisemitic remarks made online by the attack’s suspect, DePape.
“If Elon Musk has said now that he’s going to start a content moderation board,” the senator said, “that was one good sign. But I continue to be concerned about that. I just don’t think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff that’s a bunch of lies. “.
Musk tweets a reference to a bogus conspiracy idea.
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