Senate Dems want to call Elon Musk to testify on Twitter plans

Senate Democrats are reportedly mulling over plans to call Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify about his buyout of Twitter.

While no official moves have been made to question the billionaire on his $44 billion purchase of the social media giant, and he isn’t even running the company yet, triggered Democrats in the U.S. Senate are certainly “thinking about” hauling him in to answer their all-important questions, according to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Cantwell chairs the Senate Commerce Committee which has previously questioned former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, as well as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

“We’re thinking about it,” the Washington state Democrat told Bloomberg Thursday when asked about the possibility of Musk being called before the committee.

Other key Democrats agree that meeting with Musk is vital considering the impact the social media company has. While it could take months for the deal to be finalized, Musk has already shared his thoughts on changes and has explained his goal of restoring free speech on the platform. Republicans have celebrated the buyout while Democrats have sounded the alarm that Musk will end up lifting restrictions and allowing disinformation to run rampant.

“It’s a technology which is central to democracy and our economy and it is important for the representatives of the American people to hear what the new owners intend on using that technology to accomplish,” Senator Ed Markey, another member of the Commerce Committee, told Bloomberg in an interview.

“We have to understand the censorship or lack thereof, content moderation or not, that is going to be the policy for the new owner,” the Massachusetts Democrat added.

“In terms of what the values are that this company is going to be creating for the new Elon Musk Twitter world, I think that’s actually a necessary role for Congress to play,” Markey noted in pointing out the relevance of the Commerce Committee getting involved as it oversees matters related to the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is also of the mind to ask Musk to testify about his plans.

“There is a powerful imperative to ask him to tell Congress and the American people how he’s going to address the concerns that we’ve raised,” he said.

Commerce Committee Democrats are not the only ones having a meltdown after Musk’s move this week. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., railed against the “dangerous” deal in a tweet and then told MSNBC that there need to be “rules of the road for Big Tech.”

“Who’s going to have the power in our country? Are we going to make these decisions as a democracy, or is this going to be Elon Musk all by himself, off in a room, a bazillionaire, who just plays by his own set of rules?” she asked Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat With Ari Melber.”

Reactions from the Senate’s leaders highlighted the stark contrast in views about Musk’s buyout, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called it “an incredible event,” but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “Twitter has been a dark, dark place. I hope it doesn’t get any darker.”

“Big Tech is an existential threat to free speech and free and fair elections in America,” Sen. Ted Cruz said on “Hannity” earlier this week. However, he noted that Musk’s purchase of Twitter “is without exaggeration the most important development for free speech in decades.”

Meanwhile, the idea of Democrats calling in the billionaire to testify went over like a lead balloon on the platform he just purchased.

Frieda Powers

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles