Elon Musk Smeared as ‘Superspreader of Hate’ by Corporate Media over Free Speech Plan for Twitter
Corporate media outlets have been ramping up their attacks against Elon Musk as he continues to roll out his free speech plans for Twitter.
Prominent leftist media darlings are smearing Musk as a “superspreader of hate” who is “opening the gates of hell” by reinstating accounts banned under the old Twitter management.
The media has joined “woke” celebrities in a collective meltdown over Musk’s latest announcement that he will restore all banned Twitter accounts that had not broken the law or aggressively posted spam.
Musk’s plan for a Twitter “amnesty” has alarmed several mainstream outlets which reported on how “harmful” the move would be to society.
Axios, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press claim that Musk granting “amnesty” for these Twitter accounts will “spur a rise in harassment” and “hate speech” on the platform.
They also suggest, without evidence, that the Twitter poll Musk used to justify his decision might have been manipulated, leading to an unfair result.
On Thursday, Musk announced that he would respect the results of his recent public Twitter poll.
“The people have spoken,” he said after an overwhelming number of users voted in favor of a blanket amnesty for suspended accounts.
“Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”
Musk’s poll, which he posted the day prior, asked, “Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?”
Of the 3.2 million Twitter users who voted, just over 72% chose “Yes.”
The Tesla CEO employed the same system for gauging whether to reinstate President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
After 24 hours of voting, a slim majority of 15 million users voted to reinstate Trump’s account.
After Musk’s latest poll, Washington Post left-wing tech columnist Taylor Lorenz channeled the rage and frustration of “activists and online trust and safety experts” over the news.
In a piece headlined, “‘Opening the gates of hell’: Musk says he will revive banned accounts,” Lorenz made several unfounded alarmist claims about Musk and Twitter.
The headline was noteworthy, considering that last month Lorenz tweeted in response to Musk taking over Twitter, “It’s like the gates of hell opened on this site tonight.”
However, for her latest story, similar words were used by Harvard Law School’s clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo, another outspoken left-wing figure.
“Apple and Google need to seriously start exploring booting Twitter off the app store,” Caraballo told Lorenz.
“What Musk is doing is existentially dangerous for various marginalized communities.
“It’s like opening the gates of hell in terms of the havoc it will cause.
“People who engaged in direct targeted harassment can come back and engage in doxing, targeted harassment, vicious bullying, calls for violence, celebration of violence.
“I can’t even begin to state how dangerous this will be.”
In addition, Lorenz cited African journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who said, “You would have allowed vile people to put our lives in danger as journalists!
“You will have blood on your hands @elonmusk.”
Lorenz also made baseless claims that Musk’s poll was hacked or manipulated in favor of the desired result.
“Experts say that bots and bad actors can easily skew the results of a Twitter poll, and so basing decisions on one is irresponsible,” she claimed.
As “evidence,” she quoted “woke” UCLA associate professor Sarah Roberts, who said, “A Twitter poll can be manipulated.”
Axios also framed its report around those fearful about the decision.
On Thursday, the outlet reported Musk’s pro-amnesty decision and noted the supposed negative implications.
“Why it matters: Online monitoring groups have reported a rise in racism, anti-Semitism and other hate speech on Twitter since free speech advocate Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company last month, though the billionaire said Thursday it has declined,” the outlet reports.
The piece quoted several individuals alarmed at the decision, including Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed, who labeled Musk a “superspreader of hate” for his attempts to end censorship on Twitter.
“Superspreaders of hate, abuse, and harassment will be the only people to benefit from this latest decision by Twitter,” he claimed.
Axios also quoted the Caraballo remarks from the Washington Post report by Lorenz.
Caraballo wrote on November 17, “I don’t think Twitter will last through the weekend.”
The piece provided its “big picture” perspective on the story, writing, “Groups like the Center for Countering Digital Hate have reported a rise in racism on Twitter since Musk took over, including research indicating it failed to act on ‘99% of racist abuse’ of soccer players in the leadup to the men’s World Cup in Qatar.”
And an Associated Press report fixated on the alleged negatives of Musk’s amnesty, opening with the statement, “New Twitter owner Elon Musk said Thursday that he is granting ‘amnesty’ for suspended accounts, which online safety experts predict will spur a rise in harassment, hate speech, and misinformation.”
The piece first bashed Musk’s polling strategy, stating, “Such online polls are anything but scientific and can easily be influenced by bots.”
It then mentioned the potential rise in hate due to such decisions, stating, “In the month since Musk took over Twitter, groups that monitor the platform for racist, anti-Semitic, and other toxic speech say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto public square.
“That has included a surge in racist abuse of World Cup soccer players that Twitter is allegedly failing to act on.”
The report specifically blamed this crisis on Musk laying off many Twitter workers since he started.
“The uptick in harmful content is in large part due to the disorder following Musk’s decision to lay off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce, fire top executives, and then institute a series of ultimatums that prompted hundreds more to quit,” the report claim, without evidence.
It also added that the billionaire has “been getting increasingly chummy on Twitter with right-wing figures.”
As Slay News reported earlier this week, the Washington Post also published an article complaining that Musk made “woke” employees “cry” over Twitter his free speech agenda.
“At a Halloween party at Twitter headquarters where workers had brought children dressed in costumes, some employees quietly left to go cry,” the Post reported.
