Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has issued a warning that Twitter owner Elon Musk is “testing the waters” to possibly interfere in the 2024 election.
The New York progressive representative slammed the Tesla CEO for blocking dissident accounts ahead of the Turkish election.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose rule has grown increasingly authoritarian during his two decades in power, won 52 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff election, securing another term.
At the end of his next term, he will have been at the top of the Turkish government for a quarter-century.
During his rule, Mr Erdogan restricted press freedom, imprisoned journalists, and used the LGBT+ community as a cudgel in the culture war to attract socially conservative voters as his chaotic economic policies have sent the Lira into a tailspin.
The Turkish currency hit a record low against the dollar on Wednesday as Mr Erdogan was preparing to outline his cabinet and economic agenda, according to Reuters.
On the new social media platform BlueSky, Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote that she was “wondering” when it would be the right time to leave “the other place,” seemingly a reference to Mr Musk’s Twitter.
“I am concerned about next year’s election given Musk putting his finger on the scale in Turkey, etc. There is a line where the harm of unchecked disinfo exceeds the benefits of direct, authentic communication,” she added. “It’s really sad.”
Mr Musk has called himself a “free speech absolutist,” but Twitter blocked a number of dissident accounts earlier this month at the request of Mr Erdogan, according to Insider.
The tech billionaire has been mocked as instead being a “free speech opportunist”.
“In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today,” the Twitter Global Government Affairs account tweeted on 12 May. “We have informed the account holders of this action in line with our policy. This content will remain available in the rest of the world.”
The initial round of the presidential election, when neither Mr Erdogan nor opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu reached the threshold of more than 50 per cent of the vote, was held on 14 May, prompting the 28 May runoff.
Mr Musk said that Mr Erdogan had threatened to completely block Twitter in Turkey, and Mr Musk noted by making these concessions, the platform would still be partially available in the country, according to Insider. The tech billionaire has had a business relationship with the Turkish leader since at least 2021.
They initially met in 2017, according to Forbes, and met again in 2021, discussing lithium batteries for electric vehicles and the launch of satellites. They signed an agreement that year for Turkey to launch the domestically manufactured communications satellite Türksat 6A. Last year, Mr Musk and Mr Erdogan were reported to have met at the World Cup in Qatar.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez also criticised Mr Musk for boosting a parody account pretending to be her and sharing “false policy statements” as if they were coming from her.
“Right now many of these folks are sending up test balloons - Trump’s use of AI in the DeSantis video, Musk’s censorship in Turkey for the election. All of it is precedent-setting and testing waters ahead of ‘24. It will get worse. Q is how to respond when gov overall won’t, or may not in time,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.
Following Mr Musk’s Twitter takeover, there’s been reports of rising right-wing extremism and climate and Covid-19 disinformation.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted on Friday that “Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide. Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement”.
This has led to some considering the possibility that Mr Musk may shut off Twitter in Europe, according to Insider.
