Elon Musk’s claims about bringing political balance to Twitter had already been heavily questioned, given his embraces of Republican politicians as well as far right politics. After joining Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his bid for the presidency. The left has now taken up the notion that Twitter is a part of conservative media.
Democratic strategists claimed that the joint Musk-DeSantis meeting was just the latest instance of the tech billionaire aligning Twitter and himself with conservative politics, a shift to the right from its previous identity.
The start of the event on Wednesday was delayed by 20 minutes due to technical problems, but DeSantis seemed happy by the end. The event lasted about an hour and featured several people who were asked to ask questions. They were all well-known conservative pundits or operatives, and they almost unanimously praised DeSantis.
These questions were almost exclusively centered around the GOP’s culture war politics. They included: Covid lockdowns; government overreach; mainstream media; immigration, critical race theories and even Bitcoin regulation.
DeSantis, after an hour of answering questions, said: “We should try it again.” This is a fantastic platform. I’d like to see more platforms follow the same path.
Musk said that he would be open for similar events to take place with Democrats including Vice President Kamalah Harris and President Joe Biden, and reaffirmed his call following the DeSantis’ event.
Some political consultants reacted with dismay to this idea.
Teddy Goff was the digital director of former President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
Goff stated that “not only is the brand becoming more toxic, there are also fewer people — and even fewer of us there.”
Some conservatives praised the event on Twitter, as was chronicled by Christina Pushaw DeSantis’ rapid response director. Even DeSantis’ technical problems were seen as proof of his strength.
Mike Cernovich, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, tweeted: “DeSantis has broken the internet!”
Faiz Sharif, a political advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said Twitter was still useful for reaching certain audiences. He said this included journalists and hyper-engaged voter, but that candidates would be better off creating authentic moments with ordinary people, rather than chit-chatting with billionaires.
He said that when people don’t feel that they’re getting canned information, that is what works well.
The DeSantis/Musk event marked the farthest a major platform had ever gone in identifying itself with a particular political party or campaign. This shattered what had previously been a uniform effort by Big Tech to keep its companies neutral, at least on paper if not in practice.
Musk has not endorsed DeSantis, or anyone else as president. Musk has offered some early opinions on the 2024 presidential race. Musk stated in June 2022 that he was inclined to DeSantis as the next president. He said that Donald Trump should ” hang his hat and sail into the sunset” a month after that.
Meta and Google are two tech platforms that have used various strategies to portray a bipartisan image. These include donating from their corporate political actions committees to both major parties, as well as hiring former Democratic congressional staffers and Republican lobbyists at Washington D.C.
Researchers said that despite the fact that many tech barons personally support politicians, Musk is steering Twitter in a more partisan direction.
Michael Santoro is a professor of business at Santa Clara University. He said that because Elon Musk owns Twitter, Twitter and not Elon Musk, are staging the event.
Santoro stated that “He is undermining the supposed impartiality of Twitter’s operation.”
Musk’s purchase of Twitter was a major step forward for the company. Democrats demanded Twitter enforce its rules more strictly, which led to instances like the decision made by Twitter in 2017, to prohibit Sen. Marsha BLACKBURN, R-Tenn. from purchasing ads to promote a video promoting an abortion-related election launch that Twitter deemed inflammatory. The Washington Post reported that in 2018, Jack Dorsey , then CEO of Twitter, acknowledged his liberal leanings and increased his courtship with Republicans by hosting a private dinner at Georgetown.
Both sides are rarely satisfied with the tightrope.
Seth Masket is a professor of Political Science at the University of Denver, and Director of the Center on American Politics. He said this in , a Substack article.
Masket stated in an interview that the previous Twitter management struggled with how to best respond to conservative complaints, but Musk’s vision for Twitter is also not entirely clear.
Masket stated, “I do not get the impression he is trying to be a Fox alternative.” Masket said, “I don’t think he is well-informed about his vision of freedom of speech. I have never felt that it is well-thought out. It is a free expression of controversial views without much criticism.”
Musk’s participation in the audio-only Twitter Spaces was a huge advantage for DeSantis, as it gave him a larger platform to make an announcement than he would have otherwise had. Musk’s devoted fan base was also able to see that Musk was interested in hearing DeSantis.
Musk has also made other attempts to embrace right-wing political views. Musk has personally praised former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who is planning to show a program on Twitter. He also reinstated accounts for Trump and other users that were banned by Twitter’s prior management.
Progressives say that the DeSantis’ event is part of a pattern.
Matthew Sheffield, an online conservative writer who edits Flux, said that this was one of the ways Musk was trying to reposition Twitter.
Musk, in his own posts, has attacked liberals like George Soros and spread memes that are associated with white supremacy. All this while making sure that his tweets and those of others who pay a monthly subscription get the priority on Twitter feeds.
Twitter is becoming Elon Musk’s blog. Shakir said, “He’s the editor-in-chief.”
Twitter should be viewed in this way. He said that Twitter had become too powerful.
Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in November and immediately began to reshape the company, its service and its employees. He laid off the majority of Twitter’s staff and relaxed rules regarding objectionable content like hate symbols.
Katie Harbath (a former director of policy at Facebook and former Republican campaign worker) wrote in a Substack article there was no precedent of Musk playing such a major role in the DeSantis launch, but she did write that it reminded her of Democrat John Edwards announcing his presidential bid on YouTube back in 2007 .
She wrote that Republicans in general should be cautious of Musk.
She wrote: “Musk’s not the Republican’s best friend.” “Musk’s opportunistic nature and his alignment with Republicans is beneficial to him at the moment. Republicans should not expect loyalty from Republicans if it ceases to be.
Goff, a former Obama campaign employee, stated that Musk does not seem to value relationships with Democrats.
He said that “digging himself deeper into a ditch with a party which will be in power during a period of his life is not a good strategy.”
Musk’s companies are heavily regulated. SpaceX is awash in federal contracts. Tesla is being investigated by the Justice Department . Twitter’s fate depends on Congress if it doesn’t repeal their immunity from lawsuits.
Shakir stated that Democrats and Progressives cannot ignore or boycott Twitter as they do Fox News. Twitter has a core group of politically-aware users, which includes many journalists without a similar platform. This reflects what Shakir described as a disturbing concentration of economic and politic power by tech firms more generally.
Shakir stated that “it’s become such a useful resource for so many information consumers, his ability to change the algorithms has an incredible power and reach.”
