Musk jokes about his deleted tweet sharing misinformation on Pelosi attack
Enlarge (credit: Anadolu Agency / Contributor | Anadolu Agency)
This weekend, advertisers, regulators, and Twitter users were all attentively watching Elon Musk's Twitter feed for any indication of whether the free speech absolutist could be trusted to do things like effectively combat disinformation spread after taking over the site. In what may be considered Musk's first major misstep as Twitter's new owner, Musk chose that moment to amplify a far-right conspiracy theory in a now-deleted tweet garnering scrutiny from all sides.
Musk's tweet came amid a wave of online chatter discussing what happened when an accused intruder, David Wayne DePape, broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house, attacked her now-hospitalized husband Paul with a hammer, and screamed out, Where's Nancy?" Investigating possible motives, CBS News reviewed some of DePape's social media posts and confirmed that DePape had shared several far-right conspiracy theories, including posts denying the Holocaust and tying Democratic officials to child sex rings. CBS also reported that DePape allegedly had a list of other targets.
Hillary Clinton joined others in tweeting critically of the Republican party, which she accused of inciting violence by spreading deranged conspiracy theories." Clinton's tweet prompted Musk to link Clinton to an article from a weekly newspaper known to publish false news-the Santa Monica Observer-which, according to The New York Times, reported false allegations suggesting that Paul Pelosi knew his attacker. Overlooking the dubious news source, Musk repeated those false allegations, telling Clinton and his millions of followers that there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye."