Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claim Vice President Kamala Harris aims to shut down X if it fails to adhere to government oversight. Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate, recently claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris would seek to “shut dElon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate, recently claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris would seek to “shut down” X if it doesn’t align with government oversight.....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assert that Kamala Harris would shut down X over government oversight disagreements, misinterpreting her past critiques of social media’s unregulated influence.(File Image)
The two have shown support for former US President Donald Trump and shared an old clip from a 2019 CNN interview with Harris. In the resurfaced clip, Harris criticized social media platforms for “directly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight and regulation” and stated that this “has to stop.”
Musk says ‘Kamala is just a puppet’
RFK claimed Harris would shut down platforms like X if they failed to police content according to what he described as “government-approved narratives.” He shared the clip on X, stating, “Translation: If they don’t police content to conform to government-approved narratives, they will be shut down.”
Kennedy, however, misinterpreted Harris’ comments, incorrectly suggesting that she was referring to Elon Musk when she made these statements. Kennedy accused Harris of wanting to suppress free speech if it didn’t align with “government-approved narratives.” He questioned her, writing, “He [Musk] has lost his privileges. Can someone please explain to her that freedom of speech is a RIGHT, not a ‘privilege’?”
Musk also chimed in, responding, “This is what she actually believes. Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and the Democratic Party (Kamala is just a puppet) wants to destroy it.”
What’s in the 2019 CNN clip?
The clip in question is part of a larger interview where Harris discussed her concerns about then-President Trump’s use of Twitter and the broader impact of social media on society. During the interview, Harris expressed, “And when you’re talking about Donald Trump, he has 65 million Twitter followers, he has proven himself to be willing to obstruct justice – just ask Bob Mueller. You can look at the manifesto from the shooter in El Paso to know that what Donald Trump says on Twitter impacts peoples’ perceptions about what they should and should not do.” Harris even argued that Trump’s account “should be taken down” because it violated the platform’s terms of service.
“And the bottom line is that you can’t say that you have one rule for Facebook and you have a different rule for Twitter. The same rule has to apply, which is that there has to be a responsibility that is placed on these social media sites to understand their power.”
She added, “They are speaking to millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation. And that has to stop.”
