Elon Musk's Twitter battle ignites right-wing online agitators
Elon Musk's Twitter battle ignites right-wing online agitators
Elon Musk's short-term push to buy Twitter has made him a lot of enemies — but it's delivering exactly what a certain group of Republican influencers want. Right-wing figures such as Steve Bannon and Donald Trump Jr. have already applauded Musk's decision to back out of the deal. His goal is no longer to control Twitter but to embarrass it.
"Maybe Elon never intended to buy Twitter," Charlie Kirk, podcaster and CEO of Turning Point USA, said in a tweet on Friday. "Maybe he just wanted to expose it."
Bannon, a former White House chief strategist under Trump, said in the Sunday Gator Post, "Twitter has understated [its] concept and consistently lied about the scale, scope, depth, source and ubiquity of bots versus real human users." Is." "Twitter isn't a real company - it's an 'information warfare tool'."
Right-wing pundits initially applauded the idea of Musk-owned Twitter, on the assumption that the Tesla CEO would reverse the ban on former President Donald Trump and other conservatives - strongly encouraged by Musk's emphasis on restoring free speech. There has been an effect. But Musk is now going to court with Twitter to avoid the deal, turning the attention of pundits to any embarrassing secrets that may come up in the trial's discovery proceedings.
The test will involve significant discovery, drawing up a suite of pundits hungry for public internal company information, ready to spin as confirmation that Twitter is biased against conservatives. Musk has already proven he's willing to engage with those figures, and the alliance could benefit both of them in the long run.
Previous tech lawsuits have exposed harmful information on the platforms in the past. As part of a 2018 UK Parliament investigation into Facebook, lawmakers obtained and published sealed court documents showing CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally accessed the platform's API shortly after it was acquired by Twitter was. The decision to cut the now-defunct video app Vine has been approved.
Musk has already put his weight behind Wright's expose narrative, tweeting a meme on Monday, saying "He said I can't buy Twitter. Then he didn't disclose bot info... now." They must disclose the bot's information in court." The meme ends with an image of Musk, head tilted back, laughing hysterically.
Central to Musk's argument for canceling the deal is the claim that Twitter misrepresented the number of bots on the platform. Fake users affect the amount the company can reduce advertising revenue, so it's a less attractive purchase for Musk. Since these numbers were not disclosed at the time of the deal, Musk believes it is his right to opt out.
It's a defense Musk began laying the groundwork not long after Twitter first proposed to capture — and one that was enthusiastically adopted immediately. "So basically Twitter has a huge amount of spam accounts - way more than they let go - and got busted for it!!!" Donald Trump Jr. said in a Friday tweet.
While Musk has made political donations to Republicans in the past, his relationship with the right has only strengthened after his decision to buy Twitter. During a May Financial Times conference, Musk called Twitter's ban on Trump a "morally bad decision" and said he would allow the former president to rejoin the platform after taking control.
Even if the information from the test does not prove that Twitter censors conservatives, it is likely that the authority will frame it as such. Not only would this hurt Twitter but it could encourage users to jump on emerging right-wing Twitter clones like Parlor, TruthSocial and Gator.
"The lasting consequences of the failed acquisition will be lasting, and Musk deserves credit for uncovering the incurable, rotting, politically discriminatory culture inside Blue Bird," Gator CEO Jason Miller said in a statement Friday.
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