Elon Musk tweets a conspiracy theory about attack on Paul Pelosi
CNN
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Elon Musk on Sunday gave credence to a fringe conspiracy concept about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi.
The new Twitter owner tweeted a hyperlink to an write-up total of baseless statements about Pelosi. The write-up was posted on a site that purports to be a news outlet.
Musk, who has 112 million followers on the platform he now owns, posted the baseless story about Pelosi in reaction to a tweet from Hilary Clinton at 8:15 am ET. He later on deleted the tweet close to 2 pm, but not in advance of racking up far more than 28,000 retweets and 100,000 likes.
Linking to a Los Angeles Periods story about Pelosi’s alleged attacker, Clinton wrote, “The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now on a regular basis unfold detest and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not stunning, that violence is the end result. As citizens, we ought to maintain them accountable for their words and the steps that observe.”
In reaction, Musk joined to the baseless tale, and wrote, “There is a tiny possibility there could be additional to this tale than satisfies the eye.”
In 2016 the identical website falsely claimed that Clinton experienced died and that the man or woman on the presidential marketing campaign path was not Clinton but her overall body double.
Musk’s article arrives amid concerns about how the billionaire will run Twitter and if misinformation and despise will be provided a even bigger system on the site.
A Twitter spokesperson did not right away return a CNN request for comment.
Musk’s takeover — which was finalized Thursday night time — not only has the potential to build upheaval for Twitter
(TWTR) staff members but also for the hundreds of millions of men and women all around the globe who use the system each day. It could also effect the upcoming US midterm elections, if Musk will make fantastic on his assure to restore the accounts of end users who had been earlier banned from the system, most notably previous US President Donald Trump, and limit the company’s material limitations.
In the initial weeks following agreeing to obtain the enterprise in April, and before his first go to bail on the deal, Musk repeatedly stressed that his purpose was to bolster “free speech” on the platform and get the job done to “unlock” Twitter’s “extraordinary prospective.” The Tesla CEO instructed he would rethink Twitter’s strategy to articles moderation and long term bans, with possible impacts on civil discourse and the political landscape. He also talked about his desire to rid the system of bots, even as he afterwards built the number of bots central to his argument to abandon the offer.
CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report