Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) complained on Twitter this week about the changes that new Twitter CEO Elon Musk is making to the platform, and she received a reply from the world’s richest man.
AOC’s remarks came after Musk said that he will charge users $8 per month for a variety of features, which has sparked a lot of backlash from across the political spectrum for a variety of reasons.
“Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan,” AOC tweeted at the start of the week.
Musk responded, “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.”
Musk also responded with a screenshot of a hoodie that Ocasio-Cortez sells online that lists for $58.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Musk also responded with a meme:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez also got into it with David Sacks, a West Coast-based venture capitalist, who responded to AOC by writing, “Why aren’t [The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic] free? Their billionaire owners should stop being greedy and give us those products for free.”
AOC criticized the response, writing: “Are you seriously equating an app where people are torrenting racial slurs at an accelerated clip with the New York Times?”
“Also fyi, legacy newspapers actually care about verifying newsworthy sources. And they don’t charge their journalists/creators for ‘priority’ placement.”
“As for billionaire ownership of our news sources, that is a legitimate problem! Market concentration of media is a huge issue,” AOC continued. “Hope you’re using your power to stop private equity gutting of local newsrooms while supporting nonprofit and co-op modeled news outlets as well.”
Musk has previously mocked AOC on Twitter over criticisms from the socialist lawmaker.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted back in April, after Musk announced he would buy the platform: “Tired of having to collectively stress about what explosion of hate crimes is happening bc some billionaire with an ego problem unilaterally controls a massive communication platform and skews it because Tucker Carlson or Peter Thiel took him to dinner and made him feel special.”
Musk responded, “Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy.”
Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy ☺️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022
Musk’s response was a reference to a news story from late last year where Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at critics online after she was caught hanging out in Florida without a mask on.
National Review reported that, according to photographs obtained by the publication, Ocasio-Cortez was “seated outside Doraku Sushi and Izakaya in Miami Beach Thursday afternoon, raising a cocktail in one hand and checking her phone in another.”
“If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet,” Ocasio-Cortez responded to one of the critics calling her out. “Ya creepy weirdos.”