cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18182166
New Democrat MP Charlie Angus is calling on Elections Canada to launch an investigation into Elon Musk and his social media platform X, saying he is concerned about potential interference by the tech billionaire in the next federal election.
In a two-page letter to Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, Angus said Musk has been playing a role in recent elections in a variety of countries, donating millions of dollars to conservative candidates and using X, formerly known as Twitter, to amplify the political messages of candidates he favours.
“He has formed alliances with right-wing populist leaders, amplified extremist influencers and spread hate disinformation towards marginal groups,” Angus wrote.
So I’ve gone through and picked out a few quotes I think are important to discuss, any emphasis is mine.
We’ve seen the effects of this through the pandemic, and after, the growth of the Far Right, and the Tories pandering to that demographic, fueling the hateful rhetoric and in Alberta’s case instituting laws that verifiably damage the human rights of the most vulnerable people in our society.
This, to be fair…they never really did anything about actually problematic posts. From some reporting I’ve seen Meta platforms are a hotbed of paedophilia groups, white national organisations and through the actions or inactions of moderation have enabled at least one brutal coup.(Citation to come later when I have more time)
There’s been reports from people who say they are ex/current employees of twitter showing what looks to be algorithms being weighted heavily in Trump’s favour. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Melon Husk does the same thing for Pierre.
There’s still the issue that some communities are getting all their communication from the local government on Twitter and Facebook. This should have never been the case, and the fact that it still happens is an absolute joke. No one should have to look at FB or Twitter to see if they need to be evacuated, or to find the minutes for the last school board meeting. Another side of this coin is the rampant destruction of small town journalism. Local papers across the country are being bought up, shuttered, and replaced with VC vetted slop.
Excuse my language, but… you’re fucking right it’s something we should be worried about.
He’s only as much of a “Free Speech Absolutist” as long as he can spout racist, fascist, misogynistic and bigoted with being pulled up.