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Dem strategist tells Al Sharpton ‘problematic’ Elon Musk is a ‘danger’ to free speech

April 18, 2022 | | Print Article

(Video: MSNBC)

Billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter and his criticism of the platform’s censorship of free speech evidently poses a “danger” as expressed by one Democratic strategist.

Danielle Moodie told MSNBC’s Al Sharpton that the Tesla/SpaceX CEO actually poses a threat to Twitter and to the freedom of speech itself, responding on “PoliticsNation” over the weekend to concerns about Musk’s overtures and even whether he will reinstate former President Donald Trump’s account.

Musk acquired a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter and then turned down an offer to join the company’s board of directors. Last week, he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with an offer of $52.40 per share in cash in order to buy the social media giant outright.

“I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” he said at the TED 2022 conference last week. “Twitter has become sort of the de facto town square, so it’s really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they’re able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”

Musk’s comments were brought up on MSNBC Saturday by Sharpton who said the billionaire has “accused Twitter of censoring its users.”

“Are you concerned that what Musk is trying to do is to open up the platform for more misinformation about topics such as COVID-19 and the 2020 election?” Sharpton, who has made a career of peddling misinformation, asked Moodie. “And perhaps even allow former President Trump to get his account back?”

“I mean, I’m going to be honest, Elon Musk is a danger to Twitter and to freedom of speech,” Moodie quickly replied.

“He has been known to say some of the most transphobic and homophobic things to his millions of followers,” claimed the host of the Woke AF podcast.

“So, creating an arena for hate? To me, that’s what that sounds like,” she added, referring to Musk’s $43 billion dollar offer to buy Twitter which she characterized as a way to avoid the “consequences” of tweeting some things.

“I think that Elon Musk’s buying Twitter or creating this quote, unquote arena would be problematic,” Moodie said.

Many fans of the social media platform would roundly disagree with Moodie’s alarmist take.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson told viewers last week that Musk is going to war against “the very heart of neoliberalism,” and is “risking everything that he has” in the process.

“This is not a company that exists to make money. This is a company that exists to censor speech. That’s its whole purpose,” Carlson said of Twitter.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s board of directors opted for the “poison pill” approach rather than allowing Musk to buy the company.

The billionaire warned ahead of the “titanic” consequences of such an action to thwart the takeover.

“If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty,” Musk wrote this week. “The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.”

He also spoke of a backup plan.

Frieda Powers
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