Two days after the Twitter takeover, Musk publishes a bad conspiracy theory

Tesla boss Elon Musk officially took over the Twitter short messaging service on Friday. Now, just two days later, Musk has sparked outrage with a tweet. In response to a tweet from Hillary Clinton, Musk shared an article containing an extremist and homophobic conspiracy theory about the attack on the husband of US politics Nancy Pelosi.

Musk shares an abstruse conspiracy theory about Pelosi’s husband

Police say Paul Pelosi was assaulted with a hammer during a late night raid on the couple’s California home. Among other things, he suffered a skull fracture. Pelosi himself was in Washington at the time. Musk responded on Sunday to a tweet from former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

He wrote that Republicans and their spokesmen would spread hatred and conspiracy theories. Below, Clinton linked an article in the Los Angeles Times reporting that alleged Pelosi attacker David DePape had previously disseminated conspiracy theories from the right-wing conspiracy group QAnon.

Riot on Twitter: “If that’s what Musk stands for, we’re in trouble”

Musk then linked to a report from a site called the Santa Monica Observer, writing, “There is a small chance there is more to this story than meets the eye.” The source shared by Musk wrote that no one in Pelosis’s house was hacked, but that Paul Pelosi was drunk that night and was also having an affair with a male prostitute.

The newspaper is not considered a reliable source. In 2016 she reported, among other things, that Hillary Clinton was dead and that a lookalike was supposed to take control of her then presidential campaign. There is no evidence for the article’s thesis, but it is already widely circulated in republican circles.

The hype after Musk’s tweet, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist, is great.” If that’s what Musk stands for, we’re in trouble … “US author Marianne Williamson wrote to her 2 , 7 million followers. Another user wrote, “If Elon Musk triggers the rumor that Paul Pelosi is dating men, all serious advertisers should leave this site.” Delete Twitter accounts since he owns it and it will only get worse. ” .

Strange comparisons with Hitler

The new owner of Twitter had cited as a reason for the acquisition that free speech was too limited there. More recently, however, Musk wrote in an open letter to advertisers that Twitter shouldn’t become a “place of horror” where anything could be said without consequence. The service must be “warm and welcoming to all”.

Musk has often pushed the boundaries with provocative tweets. In February, for example, he sparked outrage with a post he shared about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Next to a photo of Adolf Hitler, the tweet read: “Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a family.” Musk then deleted the tweet.