Hey there --

Last week, we sent an open letter co-signed by 25 other nonprofit groups to Twitter’s top advertisers urging them to demand Elon Musk uphold key safety standards throughout his acquisition of the company.

That includes maintaining Twitter’s policy on banned accounts. But Elon Musk made it clear this week he intends to reinstate Donald Trump’s Twitter account if his deal to acquire the platform closes. 

We saw this coming. But this is not about Trump. It’s about Elon’s intention to reinstate all accounts like Trump’s with a history of inciting violence, spreading disinformation, and fueling hate speech on and offline.

While Elon’s acquisition is still not final and temporarily on hold, it’s clear that if the sale proceeds he would roll back the basic safeguards Twitter has established to mitigate targeted harassment, hate speech, violence, and medical misinformation. We can’t let that happen.

Co-sign our letter to Twitter’s top advertisers urging them to pull their ad spend on the platform if Elon Musk acquires the company and reinstates accounts with a history of promoting violence and hate.

Twitter has a duty to protect its users and the public interest no matter who is sitting in the C-suite, and advertisers have a duty to be responsible stewards of their ad dollars. If Elon doesn’t fulfill his duty, advertisers should fulfill theirs by dropping the platform altogether.
 
We’ve lived through the disinformation of Trump’s presence on Twitter, and reinstating his account puts American lives and democracy at risk. We can’t go back. 

Thanks,

Nicole Gill
Co-founder & Executive Director
Accountable Tech