Sen. Elizabeth Warren offered pointed criticism Monday of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, calling the acquisition of the social media platform by the world’s richest man “dangerous for our democracy.”
Twitter announced the $44 billion sale Monday, saying that upon completion it would become a privately held company.
“This deal is dangerous for our democracy,” Warren said in a tweet Monday evening. “Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.”
In his own post prior to the announcement of the sale, Musk said he hoped even his “worst critics” remained on Twitter — “Because that is what free speech means.”
The billionaire founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla is a self-described “free speech absolutist.” At a TED conference this month, he called Twitter the “de facto town square” and said it was “very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech.”
Despite his self-labeled free speech bonafide, Musk has a more complicated record on transparency. Tesla has fired employees who noted issues with its self-driving car technology and reportedly asked the Chinese government to censor online posts critical of the company, the Los Angeles Times noted.
Though he did not appear to respond to Warren’s post on Monday, Musk has in the past publicly sparred with the senator in the face of her criticism.
In December, shortly after Musk was named “Time Person of the Year,” Warren called the billionaire out for avoiding federal income taxes. She cited a ProPublica report that showed that Musk paid no federal income tax in 2018 and only about $65,000 each of the year’s prior, a fraction of his income.
“Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else,” she wrote.
“You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason,” Musk responded, adding: “Please don’t call the manager on me, Senator Karen.”
Others, including Massachusetts congresswoman Katherine Clark, were also sharply critical of Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
“If they can afford to buy Twitter, they can afford to pay their fair share in taxes,” Clark wrote.
Related Content:
Could Donald Trump return to Twitter if Elon Musk buys the social media platform?
Elon Musk buys Twitter: Billionaire promotes free speech before purchase is finalized, saying ‘I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter’
Elon Musk to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, Twitter to become a privately held company
©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit masslive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
No lizzy the fake Indian. It is only “dangerous” to the liberal strangle hold on the freedom of speech. You think it is just fine for a billionaire to own fakebook, and censure conservative speech.
WHICH is why they are in such a tissy… THEY HATE any threat to their monopoly on things.
It’s like I say whenever a Dem/Lib cries that something the Rep/Conservative are doing will endanger Democracy.
No! Stop it!
It endangers Democrats. While you are called Democrats, you are not the Democracy. So if you feel “endangered,” then say you feel endangered. But don’t claim that the Country is imperiled.
It’s just you and your destructive ways and power-grabbing ideas that are being threatened.
WELL since they do often think ONLY THEY SHOULD be in power, then its a stretch to see them thinking a ‘threat against democracy’ is a threat against them..
The purchase of Twitter by Musk IS dangerous to HER brand of Democracy and her party of Socialism disguised under the name of Democratic, which has nothing to do with our father’s Democrat party let alone the real concepts of our founders intention for a Democratic REPUBLIC. If billionaires do not have to play by the election stealing rules created by her party and media that turned out a productive President in the process of making America Great Again, and replacing him with a chuckleheaded braindead political Pinocchio puppet that got America swallowed by a whale of a tail of lies, then by all means WE THE PEOPLE should all aspire to become such rich successful billionaires, but then all the failed Democrats like tuition stealing Pocahontas, would be humbled by comparison and have to live with the shame of their failures and failed attempts to bring productive sane Americans down to the herd level of her party of infected sheep, so they will no longer be able to hide their own infirmaries which they seek to cripple all America into looking and acting just like them. Sane men create governments to only do collectively that which they cannot accomplish as individuals,,,,like fight wars, monopolies, build infrastructures etc. Doing collectively by government what citizens were designed to do individually (food, housing, clothing, healthcare) only creates shadow images of their corrupted Pocahontas political puppet masters who try to pull their strings.
It is astounding how these people “think” and “reason”—if you choose to call it that. Here, Liarwatha contends that Elon Musk acquiring Twitter poses a danger to democracy by wanting it to be a platform for free speech. The censorship implemented by Twitter—silencing points of view it deemed to be “disinformation” posed no problem in Warren’s view.
The fallacy un her allegation is blatantly clear to a rationally thinking person—but not to her and her Leftist colleagues.
“Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else.” You mean like George Soros and Bill Gates? There are two really dangerous ones. AAs to whether or not Musk lives up to his stated mission to make Twitter a forum for free speech remains to be seen. In that regard, Liz, he is like any other “politician”—yourself included—flowery speeches and campaign promises all too often fall short of delivering. But I think your larger fear is that he may actually do away with Twitter’s censorship .
Just like i had to laugh the other day, when that one leftist on MSNBC whined that “Musk could CUT off politicial speech from one party, even going so far as to BAN their representative to congress or the white house”.
BUT ISN’T THAT what they have already been DOING TO Conservatives, and flat out DID TO several GOP members inc the SITTING PRESIDENT at the time??
Why, yes. Yes they did.
This women is a total Fool every time she opens her mouth. Just like all the other Radical Socialist/Marxist Progressive Demoncrats
Funny how the disgusting dem-rats view allowing BOTH sides to post on Twitter as a “danger to our Democracy”.
The Left-wing nuts are apoplectic at the thought of BOTH sides being able to express their views. God forbid….
“This deal is dangerous for our democracy,” Warren said in a tweet Monday evening. “Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain.
This deal is dangerous for the treasonous, Democrat Party that plays by their own different set of rules, accumulating power for their own gain, no matter the costs to the people, the government or the nation.
The traitorous, dishonest, destructive, socialist Democrat Party revolves around and its philosophy is based on Total Control, Hate, Lies, Cons, Deceptions, Immorality and the lack of Integrity, Ethics or Honor.
The “Socialist Democrat Party State” political officers, Gestapo, Woke and Cancel Culture are just getting started.
You will bow down to, obey, be loyal and support the policies of the “Socialist Democrat Party State” or you will be classified as “Enemies of the State” and “Domestic Terrorists”.
Since they don’t believe in god, shouldn’t that be “Satan forbid’? 😉
i am sorry miss hagg but your idea democracy is not the same as mine.
‘Dangerous’ to the style of democracy she believes in where Democrats win and all others shut up and lump it. She likes what will become the old Twitter that catered to woke leftist liberals quashing stories unfavorable to Democrats as did all the ‘rich’ Democrat moguls who ran the high tech information companies, many who probably donated to her causes, will they be taxed also?! Education involves the free exchange of ideas, a concept no longer prevelent in higher education, where bad ideas are rooted out because they are unsustainable in debate, another basic concept missing from education and political discourse.