New Twitter chief Elon Musk said he will “look into” increased censorship on Twitter during the 2022 election season.
Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last week, was responding to a tweet from Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Fitton shared an article alleging that the platform “flag[ged]” a ballot harvesting report.
“Election censorship returns as @Twitter flags ballot harvesting report," Fitton tweeted on Saturday. ".@ElonMusk should immediately examine how the company is now interfering in the election on behalf of the Left.”
Musk responded several hours later and said that he would “look into” the increased censorship.
“I will look into this,” he tweeted in response. “Twitter should be even-handed, favoring neither side.”
NewsBusters reported in August that Twitter and Facebook will both increase censoring so-called “misinformation” during the 2022 midterm election season:
“Facebook’s parent company Meta quietly revealed that it is preparing to tackle so-called election misinformation. The platform said it created a ‘dedicated team focused on the 2022 midterms to help combat election and voter interference.’
Notably, Meta’s 2022 midterm elections policy indicated that government may even collude with the platform in censoring content. ‘We’re working with federal government partners including the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, as well as local and state election officials and industry peers, to make sure we’re all preparing for different scenarios…’”
Twitter, for its part, also got on the censorship bandwagon again. It announced Aug. 11 that it will begin enforcing its Civic Integrity Policy ahead of the U.S. 2022 midterm elections.
Twitter claimed in a tweet thread that its policy will target “misleading claims about the voting process, misleading content intended to intimidate or dissuade people from participating in the election, or misleading claims that may undermine public confidence in elections outcomes.”.
Musk has a record of speaking out against unfair censorship online.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” he tweeted in March, adding that “[f]ree speech is essential to a functioning democracy.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
