US govt paid to censor data from public on platforms: Musk
Dec 21, 2022
Washington [US], December 21 : Twitter CEO Elon Musk revealed on Tuesday (local time) that the United States government paid 'millions of dollars' to censor information from the public on multiple social media platforms, including Twitter.
Musk further pledged on Twitter to resist government incentives that would force him to block some media content.
In response to the series of Twitter Files Tweets from Michael Shellenberger, the new Twitter CEO made stunning accusations.
Retweeting 'Part 7' of the Twitter Files, Musk posted, "Government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor info from the public." Not only Twitter, he continued, "but other social media companies as well."
The debate over the controversial 'The Twitter Files' saga sparked following Musk's decision to release the new installments behind internal company communication which also included the company's decision to block a media report regarding Hunter Biden's international business operations.
The accusation is concerning and speaks of Musk's attempts to build a new kind of Twitter. Moreover, they benefit from his attempt to separate the current and past regimes at Twitter and how they will construct the platform.
The tenure of the new Twitter CEO has not been short of controversy. Amid the drama surrounding the platform's subscription service, mass layoffs, and resignations, Musk evoked a major controversy in making the staff and users adhere to his vision. He did this while also candidly speaking of mistakes made by the previous regime.
Previously, Musk fired Twitter's deputy general counsel and former FBI general counsel James Baker citing concerns over "[his] possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue." In contrast, former United States President Donald Trump stressed that the "censorship cartel" in social media "must be dismantled."
Meanwhile, this week, a Twitter poll constructed by Musk asked users if they wanted him to step down.
Subsequently, following his remarks that he would adhere to the results, the poll ended with those in favour of his resignation.
Musk tweeted that he would 'abide by the results'. In just 12 hours, more than 17 million people participated in the poll, with 57.5 per cent of them choosing 'Yes'.
His survey comes in the wake of the most recent controversy about a rule prohibiting users from linking to specific competing social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon.
Within hours, the social media platform changed its mind. "Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won't happen again," he tweeted.
The colours of Twitter's new verification system are now visible on the site.
Government officials and multilateral organisations are now visible on the microblogging site with the grey-coloured tick alongside their names.
This new development has already shown up on some profiles. However, it has still not been fully rolled out, with several profiles of politicians still visible with the older blue-coloured tick.
