Elon Musk bought Twitter last week for $44 billion
(Picture: REUTERS)Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk posted a link to an unfounded theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi, raising concerns about how he will handle misinformation on the platform.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked with a hammer in his San Fransico home and taken to hospital, heightening fears over increasing political violence in the US.
Mr Musk shared a link on Twitter to a site called the Santa Monica Observer with the comment: “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.”
He was responding to a tweet from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who blamed the attack on hateful rhetoric by the Republican Party and linked to an LA Times story about how the suspect promoted far-right conspiracy theories online.
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
Mr Musk has since deleted the tweet, but it raised concerns about how he will handle hate speech and misinformation on the social media platform, which the tech mogul purchased last week for $44 billion.
In a tweet last week, Musk appealed directly to advertisers, saying that under his watch the social network “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”
Twitter staff and users had been waiting to hear more details from Mr Musk about his plans for the platform, amid concerns over his support for loosening content moderation and reversing permanent bans on controversial accounts.
Mr Musk had earlier tweeted that those banned from the site will not be reinstated until a review by a “content moderation council”.
He followed this some hours later with further information, stating in a post: “To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.”
The suspect in the Pelosi attack, David DePape, is due to be charged on Monday for allegedly clubbing Paul Pelosi over the head with a hammer on Friday after forcing his way into the couple’s home shouting “Where is Nancy?”
Officers arrived at the Pelosis’ townhouse at around 2.30am on Friday, following a report of a break-in. They found Paul Pelosi, 82, struggling with a man who was attacking him with a hammer.
Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time.
US President Joe Biden and other politicians, including prominent Republicans, have condemned the attack, which happened less than two weeks before midterm elections in which control of the US House of Representatives and Senate is at stake.
