Senator Ed Markey Ramps up the Threats Against Elon Musk

I previously reported how Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) targeted Elon Musk after someone impersonated Markey on Twitter. Markey threw a fit at Musk, holding him to blame. But it turned out that the person who “impersonated” Markey was a Washington Post reporter who had done it with Markey’s permission. So essentially, Markey had colluded with the reporter ahead of time and then used it to try to attack Musk to push restrictions on speech on Twitter. He’s lucky that neither he nor the reporter was suspended for the creation of the fake account since there are consequences for impersonation, including suspension.

A @washingtonpost reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating me—I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation. Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again. pic.twitter.com/R4r7p6mduP

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 11, 2022

And why does your pp have a mask!?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022

Musk’s response to Markey infuriated him. Markey followed up with a threat that Congress would go after his companies in a completely improper abuse of his power.

One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will. https://t.co/lE178gPRoM

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 13, 2022

But Markey didn’t leave it there. Markey continues to threaten Musk and Twitter.

.@SenMarkey threatens @elonmusk: "You cannot ignore what the federal government is requiring of your company, and that goes for … guardrails that have to be built around social media … They will pay a price if they don't put safeguards in place at Twitter" pic.twitter.com/HkQLNmN01Q

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 16, 2022

“You cannot ignore what the federal government is requiring of your company, and that goes for … guardrails that have to be built around social media … That is not permissible. They will pay a price if they don’t put safeguards in place at Twitter”

Guardrails that have to be built around social media? Just exactly what kind of “guardrails” is he talking about and who gets to decide what those are? Government deciding what speech is “permissible”? That sounds suspiciously like the government not only going after a private company they don’t like but also placing restrictions on speech. Markey even threatens Musk will “pay a price,” if Elon doesn’t bend to what he wants. Who are the fascists here? It’s not the Republicans.

As journalist Glenn Greenwald observes, the tech companies are not randomly trying to censor people, it’s because they’re being pushed by people like Markey. The impersonation that Markey himself okayed is just the latest hook to support their agenda.

It is astonishing to watch Dems and their allies in media corporations posture as opponents of “fascism” – while their main goal is to *unite state and corporate power* to censor their critics and degrade the internet into an increasingly repressive weapon of information control.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 6, 2022

A major myth that must be quickly dismantled: political censorship is not the by-product of autonomous choices of Big Tech companies.

This is happening because DC Dems and the US Security State are threatening reprisals if they refuse. They’re explicit:pic.twitter.com/j64rCdZ82L

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 6, 2022

It’s stunning that you have a U.S. senator making such a blatant unconstitutional threat.

Democrats want to control the narrative. The real problem here? Musk truly wants free speech. But if you have that, Democrats no longer have that control in the face of the truth. This is what being tyrannical looks like.