New Twitter CEO Elon Musk reportedly will restore the content moderation tools that he briefly suspended after taking over following a meeting that he had this week with left-wing groups.
Bloomberg News reported that Musk “promised” the groups that he would “restore content moderation tools that had been blocked for some staff by the end of the week.”
Musk’s decision comes after the leaders complained about Musk’s plans “to relax speech protections on the platform and restore the accounts of users who had been removed.”
Free Press’ Jessica Gonzalez said that Musk would “continue consulting with the people of color, religious minorities and people most impacted by hate and disinformation on the platform.”
Musk has not seemed open to listening to constructive criticism on the platform about some of his plans, regardless of whether those making the suggestions are on the political Right or the political Left or somewhere in between. Musk has claimed this is a good thing.
“I’ve seen folks curious why Twitter is relying on the research of Renée DiResta, a high level executive at a firm that bought Russian bot accounts to follow a Republican candidate, in an effort to mislead voters,” political commentator Mike Cernovich tweeted. “Maybe ask Renee why they did this?”
“Why is someone connected to a ‘false flag operation’ (their words) at New Knowledge during the 2018 midterms anywhere near election integrity people at Twitter?” Cernovich asked. “All of this was documented. It’s not a matter of opinion. They b[ought] Russian bots to follow a Republican candidate.”
Cernovich’s remarks are in reference to an explosive report in The New York Times back in 2018 that revealed that a leftist group used the same tactics as Russia to meddle in the Alabama Senate race against Republican nominee Roy Moore, who lost.
Why is someone connected to a “false flag operation” (their words) at New Knowledge during the 2018 midterms anywhere near election integrity people at Twitter?
All of this was documented. It’s not a matter of opinion.
They bot Russian bots to follow a Republican candidate. pic.twitter.com/zpoDMfb9jk
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) November 2, 2022
Journalist and political commentator Tim Pool responded to the latest developments by stating, “Elon caved in less than a week.”
“I’ll spend $8 after Elon frees the political prisoners and releases documents on the DHS collusion with Twitter to control and suppress information,” Pool continued. “Considering he’s already working with ‘New Knowledge’ I really doubt he will do anything.”
I'll spend 8$ after Elon frees the political prisoners and releases documents on the DHS collusion with Twitter to control and suppress information
Considering he's already working with "New Knowledge" I really doubt he will do anything
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 2, 2022
Shortly after taking over the platform, Musk said that he would create a new content moderation group that will oversee all policy initiatives on the platform.
“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” Musk tweeted. “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Six hours later, Musk added: “To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.”