Congress, Free Speech, Media

“Always Risky to Attack Members of Congress”: Reporter Warns Musk Not to Run Afoul of Democratic Members

Twitter LogoIn a stark warning from a reporter, Politico’s Sam Stein weighed into a dispute over the verification of a fake account for Senator Ed Markey (D., Mass.), who has demanded answers from Elon Musk. Liberals are using such verification problems to attack Musk for threatening to restore free speech protections to Twitter. When Musk mocked Markey’s letter, Stein ominously warned that it is “[a]lways risky to attack members of congress. Especially risky with Dems assured of Senate power. Curious play by Musk here. He has many interests before Congress.” For many of us, it was a chilling message coming from a reporter that you would be wise not to risk the ire of powerful politicians.

Markey himself made no effort to hide the opportunistic use of the verification error to pressure Musk not to reduce Twitter’s massive censorship program. He declared

“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.”

The use of “debt” to describe the obligation to censor is fascinating in this context. Many of us have long criticized the alliance of Twitter censors with Democratic members and groups. Recently, evidence emerged of back channels between government officials with social media companies. The allegations raise the concern over what I have called censorship by surrogate.

In one telling hearing, tech CEOs appeared before the Senate to discuss censorship programs. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story, but then pledged to censor more people in defense of “electoral integrity.”

Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, however, was not happy. He was upset not by the promised censorship but that it was not broad enough.

He noted that it was hard to define the problem of “misleading information,” but the companies had to impose a sweeping system to combat the “harm” of misinformation on climate change as well as other areas. “The pandemic and misinformation about COVID-19, manipulated media also cause harm,” Coons said. “But I’d urge you to reconsider that because helping to disseminate climate denialism, in my view, further facilitates and accelerates one of the greatest existential threats to our world.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal also warned that he and his colleagues would not tolerate any “backsliding or retrenching” by “failing to take action against dangerous disinformation.” He demanded “the same kind of robust content modification” from the companies – the new Orwellian term for censorship.

Others have sought even more “robust” action. For years, Democratic leaders, including President Joe Biden, have called for corporate censorship on a variety of subjects.

I understand if Stein is trying to note that corporations are generally more solicitous to senators. Moreover, while the verification issue is being used unfairly to pressure Musk into restoring censorship policies, Musk should not make light of a fake account controversy raised by any user. However, the comment suggests that Musk should cut Markey slack because Musk’s own “interests” may be impacted through retaliation by the Massachusetts senator.

Stein’s warning comes at a time when journalists are apoplectic about free speech protections being restored on social media. Former Politico magazine editor Garrett Graff summed up the collective vapors succinctly: “Be afraid, be actually afraid.”

Now, however, journalists appear to be shifting to make Musk afraid, very afraid, of what awaits him if he confronts powerful Democrats or allows a greater diversity of viewpoints on Twitter. While some of us believe that it is good to “risk” criticism of powerful leaders in a democracy, Stein cannot understand why Musk would take such a risk, even as figures like Markey try to coerce him to restore censorship on Twitter.

The message does not appear to be sinking into Musk but there is clearly hope that repetition will finally scare the billionaire to heed the demands for censorship:

101 thoughts on ““Always Risky to Attack Members of Congress”: Reporter Warns Musk Not to Run Afoul of Democratic Members”

  1. Scares the heck out of me when the restoration of free speech is considered a bad thing. And, as Prof. Turley has written, such censorship is not limited to the Land of the (sort of) Free.

  2. It only took the Arizona Secretary of State a week to fix the election apparatus she presides over and steal the election for governor from Karizona.

    Ain’t America great?

    1. “…intrusive government meddling in health care.”

      That was corrupt and high-criminal government unconstitutionally participating in free markets of the private sector.

      Obama must have been impeached and convicted.

      The Supreme Court must act retroactively to strike down Obamacare under its power of timeless Judicial Review.
      __________________________________________________________________________________________

      “If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of security in a Republic? the answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws.”

      – Alexander Hamilton, August 28, 1794

  4. Oh the wailing. Oh the tears that were shed on this blog over the evil of Rudy Guliani. Oh the rending of clothes. Oh the declarations to the heavens calling for justice to be served. Oh the joy when his home was raided and he had no right to his private papers. Oh the apologies that will not be forthcoming from the hating crowd. Oh the reflections that will not be looked at in the mirror. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/14/giuliani-ukraine-no-charges-1115/

  5. As you command, gestapo. Sheesh. They really, truly aren’t hiding it anymore. Time for another Bastille Day?

    You all perhaps get tired of me harping on about the under 35, but they actually *like* this surrogate parenting and are going to keep voting for it. The GOP, the Independents, need to disavow themselves of the notion that they will win following the same old script. People like the subject of this piece could give two ***** about any of that, and they now say so out loud.

    1. James says: November 14, 2022 at 6:51 PM
      “As you command, gestapo. Sheesh. They really, truly aren’t hiding it anymore. Time for another Bastille Day? ”

      There will be no more ” Bastille Day” activities James.
      If you feel the need to Act Up/Out, please review the Committee and YouTube videos of the January 6th Insurrection.
      America has had it’s “Bastille Day” moment Sir.
      Your comments have been Noted and you will be added to the Watch List.

  6. (OT, sorry) How convenient. Five days after election, the Associated Press announces today that prosecutors will NOT be filing any charges against Rudy Giuliani. (Remember when they raided his home and seized 16 or 18 electronic devices?)

      1. True, but do you believe this is political sequela? I don’t know enough about it, but I think FTX moved to Caribbean from Hong Kong last year or in 2020?

  7. What’s the difference between speaking to an audience in the town square and speaking the same message to an audience on social media? Reach and 1st Amendment protections. What does it matter if any social media account permits what someone claims is mis-and disinformation? If for instance Twitter permitted an anti-Covid vaccine post, why is that a problem? It would also allow a pro-Covid vaccine post. Problem solved. Twitter is not the official (government) website for “approved” medical information, is it?

    1. You conveniently omit another key difference: social media are owned by private companies.

      1. You don’t comprehend so well.

        Reach and 1st Amendment protections.

        That’s correct:
        – town square = 1st amendment
        – social media = reach

        1. Social media ALSO = 1st amendment, namely, the 1st Amendment rights of the social media companies to regulate speech according to their TOS.

        2. Olly, you are wasting your time with this boob. If Musk makes Twitter a free speech platform, he will argue something else. He is already complaining about Musk censoring. He’s a worm that digs in dirt and can best be utilized by feeding him to the fish.

          1. Olly, you are wasting your time with this boob.

            Seth, just remember this is not a private chat. I learn a lot from threads I’m not even involved with. I hope to have the same impact on others. The day I believe I’m not gaining or adding any value to the blog will be my last day here.

            1. Olly, you are of value even when responding to the boob. I wasn’t criticizing anything you do. I was commenting that though others may learn, the boob is a fool who doesn’t.

  8. “All politics is local.”

    – Tip O’Neil
    _________

    Corruption starts in small places, in “local” politics.

    Kentucky is small, local and totally corrupted.

    Kentucky is the key.

    “Mighty Mitch” works wonders in Kentucky, right?

    The hand of Kentucky rocks the American cradle, no?

  9. Wait.

    It wasn’t “risky” for the legislative branch to nullify and usurp the power of the separate but equal executive branch by subpoenaing the former executive branch for a inquiry regarding a blatantly “false flag” operation conducted by the totally corrupt FBI whose dark operatives allowed “protestors” “into the capitol” and through the gates and doors, all captured on video?

    Geez, America has been so corrupted no one can make any sense of anything.

    The communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) love it that way – “out of chaos comes order,” the order of tyrants and despots.

    And the Supreme Court, with the power of Judicial Review, sits idly by enjoying the chaos out of their bias and sympathy for the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs).

    The singular American failure has been and continues to be the Supreme Court and judicial branch.

  10. Lets stop and think for a minute about living in a nation where censorship by the elite exists. We would not know about Covid coming from a lab. We would not know that the mortality rate from covid for young people is near non existent. We would not know that the vaccine does not keep people from getting Covid. We would not know that RussiaGate was made up by Hillary Clinton. We would not know that the Hunter laptop is not Russian disinformation. We would not know that the FBI faked the FISA warrant in order to spy on the Trump campaign. Make no mistake, the leadership of the Democratic party would have kept you from knowing these things if they had the power to do so. Stalin, Mao and Mussolini also demanded more censorship of their opposition. You can change the name to disinformation but suppression is still suppression. Suppression is a common denominator among the worlds despots of the past and the despots of today. They are simply branches on the same tree. Let’s stop and think about the kind of nation we will become when censorship is the way of our land.

    1. What you just said needs to be wiped from the web forever.
      I can’t even see or think straight after that violent attack.
      I’m receiving a super burning hot totally false meter leftside peg from all the factcheckers of the democracy, so how could you possibly be anything but orange disinfo obviously aligned with domestic terrorist parents of our village children of various genderies who desperately need hormone blockers and castrations ASAP. Oh no, now a putinbot is attacking me.

  11. In December 2020, Sen Coons demanded that Twitter continue censorship of “misinformation” about COVID-19, which of course meant, in part, challenging government statements and recommendations. In August 2020, the CBC director admitted: “To be frank, we are responsible for some pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes. From testing, to data, to communications,” Walensky said to the camera in front of a blue CDC backdrop.”
    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-director-acknowledges-mistakes-staff-internal-message/story?id=88519682 Censorship is the propagation of error, not truth.

  12. Okay: if this isn’t Leftist fascism, then what is it? Pray tell. Because this used to be an app where people shared the Satay chicken they had for lunch. It’s becoming obscene. If we aren’t headed for the darkest times in 60 years, someone assuage us.

  13. I’m old enough to remember when Chuck Schumer warned former President Trump that if he went after the Intelligence Agencies they had 6 ways to Sunday to get even with him – and they did. If Walker does not win in Georgia then we may see the democrats going after Musk and other people at their leisure. Not sure that this will be the best use of the Senate’s time but then again, nothing they have done in the last two years has been worth their time yet they continue to play the “MAGA Insurrectionist” drum at a fevored pitch.

    1. Yeah, who cares about IA when the entire DC clown show is in cahoots in the matter along with nearly all institutions. Chuckey could have just said all of us will take revenge with our criminal insanity then begged the 50% nationwide cheer to subside so he could continue flapping his lips.

  14. This is reminiscent of “Crazy Abe” Lincoln’s “Reign of Terror” after he “won” 1860 with 38.9%, illegally denied fully constitutional secession, started a war of aggression on the territory of a fully sovereign foreign nation, imposed martial law, denied freedom of speech, denied freedom of the press, suspended habeas corpus imprisoning political opponents, left a foreign, 3-million-man standing army on U.S. soil by failing to enforce extant immigration law, and destroyed the Constitution as the “earnest of the epoch” leading America toward the “RECONSTRUCTION of a social world” for Karl Marx and imposing Karl Marx’s “RECONSTRUCTION Amendments.”

  15. If one cannot see that the left are now a regime in this country, a global one (see Turley’s post on Ireland), I do not know what to say. This is absurdly totalitarian on its face, and you better believe the mail-in voters will continue to vote for it. I am at a total loss after this past week. Your under 40 kids are not thinking about you or even themselves in the future. Those of us that are will carry the burden. Ask the right questions, people, and for Pete’s sake, whatever you do at home, stop sending your kids to the schools you do. ‘Ivy League’ is basically a very, very expensive receipt for a transaction in the 21st century. Not a transference of knowledge. Not a transference of experience. I am just done with all of this. Pray that our Constitution, the real one, not the media’s version, holds. If it doesn’t, this will all matter nothing whatsoever.

  17. It wasn’t too long ago that republicans in congress were threatening twitter because the CEO at the time was critical of republicans. Musk has been having a lot of problems trying to run twitter and he’s finding out it’s a lot harder than he thought it would be. His top 5 executives quit and advertisers are bailing because his stupid blue check mark fee allows anyone to be verified and use that to imitate others including himself. So what does he do? Starts to immediately censored or ban the accounts. So much for “bringing back free speech”. I bet Turley paid his $8 worth of credibility to have that “coveted” check mark anyone can have.

    Musk is running twitter into the ground in record time and he’s leveraged his buyout with plunging Tesla stock and loans from banks. Twitter is losing value fast and he’s risking not only twitter but space x too. That’s not the mark of a genius.

      1. would that all Big Tech companies collapsed. One can dream.

        Alas, 20 years ago a car owner manual explained how to repair the engine, change oil, etc Now it reminds users not to drink motor oil or antifreeze. War is hell

        😉

  18. Elon Musk having an astute business mind with the accolade of being the richest individual in America if not the World surely anticipated the desire of the [Tyrants “A” Many].

    Speaking only of the business end, it should matter lest to Mr. Musk whether the business succeeds or fails, if it prospers, great, if it fails, Mr. Musk would qualify for Short/Long Term Capital losses, making it a wash. But not for the government, who would be denied its anticipated share of Mr. Musk’s future earnings.

    He just recently made a statement that Bankruptcy was a possibility when addressing employees.

  19. I suggest that Musk move Twitter corporate headquarters to Texas. There he can call upon the newly re-elected governor of Texas (by about 900,000 votes) and the attorney general of Texas. I sure they would be happy to run interference for him. I believe the combined attorney generals of the Red states do have some power also. The need to protect him as conservatives strive to retake the media 1 byte at a time.
    Journalism has ceased to be an occupation of respect or ethics. Time to fly the Gadsden Flag. And back it up.

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