It looks like electric car tycoon Elon Musk — the richest person on the planet — is going to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
There’s a lot of speculation about what this will mean in practice. Musk himself doesn’t really seem to know.
And one question has been reopened:
Should Donald Trump be allowed back on Twitter?
Musk says he’s a big believer in free speech. Of course, so are we. But that doesn’t really answer the question about Trump.
Trump was not just an obnoxious user of Twitter — he exploited the platform in a concerted effort to sabotage our democracy.
That’s not something that gets fixed by the sort of “timeouts” Musk has hinted at.
As the old saying goes, “You can’t yell ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater.”
Well, you shouldn’t be able to knowingly and instantly lie to millions of people via Twitter as part of a coordinated attempt to burn down our democracy, either.
Tell Elon Musk:
We applaud a commitment to protecting genuine free speech. But we implore you not to let Donald Trump (or anyone else) exploit Twitter to undermine the very foundations of our democracy. Do not let Donald Trump back on Twitter.
Add your name now.
Thank you for taking action.
For democracy,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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