Musk deletes tweet with rumor about attack on husband of Democrat Nancy Pelosi

Elon Musk on Sunday deleted a tweet containing a rumor about the attack on the husband of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, at a time when his recent acquisition of the social network raises fears of an increase of hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

“There is a small chance that appearances can be deceiving,” The tycoon wrote in reference to the attack on Paul Pelosi, whose message redirected to the conservative website Santa Monica Observer, which spread unverified information about the incident.

LOOK HERE: Elon Musk buys Twitter: users publish racist tweets and attack the LGBT community

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 was allegedly looking for Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington DC. The congresswoman’s husband suffered a skull fracture and remains hospitalized.

Musk wrote his tweet in reaction to another by former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticizing conspiracy theories promoted by the Republican Party.

“The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly propagate completely insane hate speech and conspiracy theories,” Clinton, also a former Secretary of State, had tweeted. “It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.”

Musk’s tweet in turn sparked a series of comments on the social network.

Clinton: Conspiracy theories are killing people and we shouldn’t amplify them. Twitter owner: But have you considered this conspiracy theory? wrote University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket, after Musk’s tweet, which he marked as inappropriate for the social network.

“The troll Elon should alert Twitter boss Elon for the removal (of this tweet)”, commented wryly the former UN special rapporteur for freedom of expression, David Kaye.

The head of Tesla and SpaceX has repeatedly stated that he wants freedom of expression on Twitter, although after becoming its new owner, he said he will form a committee to evaluate the social network’s policy on publications and the restoration of accounts. blocked.

Also, a few days after it passed into his hands, the social network is the subject of coordinated campaigns by trolls who want to test its moderation policy, said Twitter’s security chief.

“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.

“To give an idea of ​​the scale: more than 50,000 tweets that repeatedly used a particular insult came from just 300 accounts”he detailed. “Almost all” those accounts are false, he assured.

Roth reiterated that “hate speech has no place” on Twitter since 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.”

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.