It took less than a week for Elon Musk, Twitter’s new CEO and majority shareholder, to “cave” to demands by left-wing groups to restore content moderation tools to the platform that he suspended after taking over the company, according to critics.
A report from Bloomberg News said that the SpaceX and Tesla founder “promised” the groups he would “restore content moderation tools that had been blocked for some staff by the end of the week.”
The apparent reversal comes after leaders of the leftist groups complained about Musk’s plans “to relax speech protections on the platform and restore the accounts of users who had been removed,” the report stated.
Free Press’ Jessica Gonzalez told the outlet that Musk would “continue consulting with the people of color, religious minorities and people most impacted by hate and disinformation on the platform.”
The Daily Wire adds:
Musk has not seemed open to listening to constructive criticism on the platform about some of his plans, regardless of whether those making the suggestions are on the political Right or the political Left or somewhere in between. Musk has claimed this is a good thing.
“I’ve seen folks curious why Twitter is relying on the research of Renée DiResta, a high level executive at a firm that bought Russian bot accounts to follow a Republican candidate, in an effort to mislead voters,” political commentator Mike Cernovich noted in a tweet. “Maybe ask Renee why they did this?”
“Why is someone connected to a ‘false flag operation’ (their words) at New Knowledge during the 2018 midterms anywhere near election integrity people at Twitter?” Cernovich continued. “All of this was documented. It’s not a matter of opinion. They b[ought] Russian bots to follow a Republican candidate.”
His remarks were in reference to a bombshell report by The New York Times in 2018 about a left-wing organization that used the same tactics as Russia to interfere in an Alabama Senate race against the GOP nominee, Roy Moore, who wound up losing his race to a Democrat.
Why is someone connected to a “false flag operation” (their words) at New Knowledge during the 2018 midterms anywhere near election integrity people at Twitter?
All of this was documented. It’s not a matter of opinion.
They bot Russian bots to follow a Republican candidate. pic.twitter.com/zpoDMfb9jk
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) November 2, 2022
News of Musk’s alleged actions led to additional criticism.
Journalist and political commentator Tim Pool responded by stating, “Elon caved in less than a week.”
“I’ll spend $8 after Elon frees the political prisoners and releases documents on the DHS collusion with Twitter to control and suppress information,” Pool continued, referencing Musk’s plans to charge for verification. “Considering he’s already working with ‘New Knowledge’ I really doubt he will do anything.”
I'll spend 8$ after Elon frees the political prisoners and releases documents on the DHS collusion with Twitter to control and suppress information
Considering he's already working with "New Knowledge" I really doubt he will do anything
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 2, 2022
Not long after he took over the company, Musk announced that he would be creating a new content moderation group responsible for overseeing all policy initiatives platform-wide.
“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” Musk tweeted. “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
But within six hours, Musk added: “To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.”
