Thursday, August 8, 2024

UK And Other Countries Looking To Rein In Musk




South Afrikaner transplant and megalomaniac right-winger Elon Musk is polluting his social media acquisition "X" with outrageous conspiracies, blatant xenophobia and sexism, and is allowing the accounts of violent right-wingers to flourish. He's largely only accountable to himself, although slander and defamation laws in some countries might give him pause before publishing his nasty posts. Politico has looked at the damage he's doing at home and abroad:

"The biggest spreader of political divisiveness and incendiary posts on Elon Musk’s revamped Twitter is turning out to be Musk himself.

In just the last two weeks on the platform — since rebranded X — the billionaire provocateur unloaded a string of posts that poured fuel on the fire of Britain’s worst anti-immigration riots in decades; shared a doctored video of Vice President Kamala Harris deeming herself the 'ultimate diversity hire' for president; and claimed without evidence that the Biden-Harris administration is 'importing vast numbers' of illegal aliens to swing the November election.

Musk’s latest flurry of innuendo, half-truths and lies online is making it increasingly clear that it is the tech mogul — and not just his platform — who poses the greatest challenge to governments struggling to rein in content that can incite extremist violence."  (our emphasis)

Lately, the unstable and petty mega- billionaire has been commenting on the racial riots in the UK, essentially supporting the neo-fascist mobs that have been attacking citizens of color, among other outrages:

"Angry officials are trying to find levers to pull to influence the world’s richest man.

Some British MPs said Tuesday they plan to haul Musk in for questioning in front of parliament over his posts amid the U.K. riots. Michigan’s secretary of state and North Carolina’s Board of Elections said this week they are launching investigations into potential misuses of personal data by a Super PAC created by Musk after they received complaints."

In addition, his Tesla and Space-X businesses are feeding his wallet, although Tesla sales have plummeted over concerns about vehicle safety and Musk's offensive political positions. Although we hope that Musk slips up badly, he's hiding behind our First Amendment to engage in falsehoods and incitement. With a Dem White House and Congress, we may be able to curb his mind pollution.

(photo: Catch me if you can)

 

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