Twenty-six organizations signed a letter warning that the Twitter takeover by Tesla founder and free speech advocate Elon Musk will ruin the platform.
How the tables have turned! Twenty-six organizations ranging from gay advocacy to pro-abortion demanded corporations boycott Twitter, warning that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s “takeover of Twitter will further toxify our information ecosystem and be a direct threat to public safety, especially among those already most vulnerable and marginalized.” Many organizations that signed the letter, such as the Free Press, MediaJustice (formerly Center for Media Justice) and the pro-abortion NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Hispanic Media Coalition, were heavily funded by liberal megadonor George Soros. Identity politics-based organizations such as the Marxist Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC), National Hispanic Media Coalition, Women’s March and GLAAD also signed the bill.
The letter gave a clear ultimatum: “Your ad dollars can either fund Musk’s vanity project or hold him to account.” The letter specified later that “We call on you to demand Musk uphold these basic standards of community trust and safety, and to pull your advertising spending from Twitter if they are not.”
The letter listed three so-called “standards” as “non-negotiable requirements” for Twitter if it wishes to retain advertising revenue from corporations going forward:
- “Keep accounts including those of public figures and politicians that were removed for egregious violations of Twitter Rules – such as harassment, violence, and hateful conduct – off the platform.” — This is a clear attack on former president Donald Trump.
- “Beyond algorithmic transparency, ensure algorithmic accountability, preserve people’s privacy, and commit to depolarizing the algorithm.”
- “Continue Twitter’s commitment to transparency and researcher access.”
The UK-based, leftist, and pro-censorship, Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) also signed the letter. CCDH released an absurd report attacking the Media Research Center and eight other conservative organizations in an attempt to shut them down online for not toeing the eco-extremist line on climate change.
Musk responded to a CNN Business report on the letter, asking in a tweet: “Who funds these organizations that want to control your access to information? Let’s investigate.” He later added: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” A Daily Mail report published May 4 answered Musk’s inquiry: “[A]n assortment of 'dark money groups' like George Soros's Open Society Foundation; NGOs founded by former Clinton and Obama administration staffers; wealthy Democrat donors and their family foundations; labor unions; and the governments of European nations.”
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