Elon Musk echoed this Sunday on Twitter of a rumor on assault on husband of the Democratic leader of the US Congress Nancy Pelosistirring fears that their purchase of the social network will fuel hate speech and misinformation on the platform.
“There is a small possibility that appearances are deceiving,” the tycoon wrote in reference to the attack on Paul Pelosiwhose message redirected to the conservative website Santa Monica Observerthat spread unverified information about the incident.
This medium has already published conspiracy theories and false information in the past, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Paul Pelosi was assaulted at his home in San Francisco on Friday by a man with a hammer, who allegedly was actually looking for Nancy Pelosi. The congresswoman’s husband suffered a skull fracture and remains hospitalized.
Musk wrote his tweet, which was later deleted, in reaction to another of the former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticizing the conspiracy theories promoted by the Republican Party.
“The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate speech and completely insane conspiracy theories,” Clinton, also a former secretary of state, had tweeted. “It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.”
The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow.https://t.co/MQor4NDFeE
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 29, 2022
Musk’s reaction in turn prompted a series of comments.
“Clinton: the conspiracy theories they are killing people and we should not amplify them. Twitter Owner: But have you considered this conspiracy theory?” University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket wrote after Musk’s tweet, which he marked as inappropriate for the social network.
The eccentric head of Tesla and SpaceX has repeatedly stated that he wants to make Twitter a kind of digital agora, where everyone is free to express themselves.
However, seeking to reassure its advertisers after the purchase, it promised to provide the company with a “content moderation council” to make decisions.
Despite these statements, a few days after the change of ownership, the social network is subject to coordinated troll campaigns they want to test their moderation policy, said Twitter’s head of security.
“Over the last 48 hours, we’ve seen a small number of accounts post a ton of tweets that include insults and other derogatory terms,” said platform integrity manager Yoel Roth.
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To give an idea of the scale: more than 50,000 tweets that repeatedly used a particular insult came from just 300 accounts. “Almost all” of those accounts are fake, she said.
Roth reiterated that “hate speech has no place” on Twitter as the network’s moderation policies have not “changed,” and that the company is taking steps to “stop any organized effort to make people believe otherwise.” “.