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Friend, the failures at Twitter keep stacking up.
On Monday, when the Twitter livestream of Elon Musk's softball interview with former President Trump was plagued by technical difficulties, Musk claimed it was a cyberattack — even though former employees and experts said there was no evidence that happened.1
Then on Tuesday, news broke that Musk was named in a cyberbullying lawsuit filed by Olympic gold-medalist boxer Imane Khelif,2 who faced a torrent of misogynistic bullying and false claims about her gender. Musk was one of several prominent voices who baselessly insisted that Khelif, a cisgender woman, is a man competing in women’s sports. This is hardly the first time that the world’s richest man has echoed and promoted content intended to hurt trans people.
This week’s events follow a clear trend: Musk is using the platform he owns to spread disinformation and manipulated content — violating his own company’s policies. We’re fighting back. Friend, there’s never been a better time to start your first gift to Free Press Action. Will you help us hold all social-media platforms accountable for the spread of disinformation and hate with an urgent gift to the Democracy Watch Fund today?
Musk is a disaster, but it’s not just Twitter that’s dropping the ball on disinformation and user safety. Our report Big Tech Backslide: How Social-Media Rollbacks Endanger Democracy Ahead of the 2024 Elections,3 documents how companies like Meta and YouTube have joined Twitter in retreating from democratic accountability by rolling back essential policies, instituting layoffs and reinstating thousands of dangerous and extremist accounts.
That’s why we organized a coalition of more than 200 civil-society organizations, researchers and journalists to send a letter calling on leading social-media platforms to strengthen platform-integrity efforts and protect democratic elections worldwide this year.4 There’s never been a better time to ramp up the pressure for platforms to change course immediately.
Rush a gift to our Democracy Watch Fund to help us hold social-media platforms like Twitter accountable for keeping users safe.
With gratitude,
Candace and the rest of us at Free Press Action
P.S. Free Press Action has been working for a long time to make social-media platforms like Twitter safe for all users — and Musk’s failures only strengthen our resolve. Your gift to the Democracy Watch Fund today makes it possible for us to sustain our organizing.
1. “Former X Employees, Experts Doubt Musk Claim of Cyberattack on Trump Talk,” The Washington Post, Aug. 14, 2024
2. “What to Know About Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif’s Cyberbullying Complaint,” The Washington Post, Aug. 15, 2024
3. Big Tech Backslide: How Social-Media Rollbacks Endanger Democracy Ahead of the 2024 Elections, Free Press, Dec. 7, 2023
4. “More Than 200 Groups Urge Leading Tech Platforms to Implement Election-Integrity Policies to Protect Democracy Worldwide,” Free Press, April 9, 2024
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