Elon Musk’s claims that he would bring political balance to Twitter were already under intense scrutiny given his continued hug from republican politicians and far-right politics. Now, after joining Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when he announced his presidential candidacy, the idea has taken hold on the left that Twitter is just another part of the conservative media apparatus.
Democratic strategists said the joint Musk-DeSantis event was just the latest example of the tech billionaire aligning himself and Twitter with increasingly conservative politics in a rightward shift from the San company’s previous identity. Francisco.
Technical problems marred the start of Wednesday’s event, delaying DeSantis’ presentation by about 20 minutes, but the candidate seemed satisfied by the end. The hour-long event featured a number of people tapped for questions, all of whom were well-known conservative and operational pundits who almost universally fawned over DeSantis.
And those questions focused almost entirely on the GOP’s culture warfare policy: Covid lockdowns, government overreach, mainstream media, immigration, critical race theory, and even bitcoin regulation.
“We should do it again,” DeSantis said after answering questions for an hour. “This is a great platform. I would like to see other platforms going in the same direction.”
musk said he would be open to similar events with Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and reiterated his call after the DeSantis event.
That idea landed suddenly among some political consultants.
“I can’t imagine that we’re going to see a Democrat doing an event on Twitter anytime soon,” said Teddy Goff, digital director for former President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
“Not only is the brand becoming more toxic, but there are fewer people there, and fewer of our people there,” Goff said.
The event was praised on Twitter by some conservatives, such as narrated by Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ director of rapid response. Even technical glitches were accepted as a sign of the candidate’s strength.
“DeSantis broke the internet!” tweeted conspiracy theorist and right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich.
Faiz Shakir, political adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Twitter remains valuable for reaching certain audiences, including journalists and hyper-engaged voters, but said candidates are better off trying to create authentic moments with everyday people. — don’t chat with billionaires.
“The things that are going well, that get across, are when people feel like they’re not getting canned information,” he said.
The DeSantis-Musk event was by far the furthest a major tech platform had gone to identify with a particular political party or candidate, shattering what had been a largely uniform effort within Big Tech to keep its companies neutral to the less in perception if not in practice.
Musk has not endorsed DeSantis or anyone else for president. However, he has offered some preliminary thoughts on the 2024 race. In June 2022, Musk said that he was propensity toward DeSantis for president. And a month later, he said former President Donald Trump should «hang up his hat and sail off into the sunset.»
Tech platforms, including Meta and Google, have employed various strategies to maintain a bipartisan image, including donating the two main political parties from their corporate political action committees, as well as the hiring of both Democratic and Republican former congressional staffers as lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
And while many tech barons have personally endorsed individual politicians, Musk has been steering Twitter’s business in an increasingly partisan direction, academic researchers said.
«Because he owns Twitter, it’s Twitter, not Elon Musk, who is hosting this event,» said Michael Santoro, a business professor at Santa Clara University.
“It is undermining the supposed neutrality of the way Twitter operates,” Santoro said.
Before Musk bought Twitter, the tech company, like its competitors, walked a fine line with politicians. Democrats pushed for stricter enforcement of Twitter’s rules, leading to situations like the one on Twitter. decision in 2017 to bar Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, from buying ads to promote an abortion-related campaign pitch video that Twitter said was inflammatory. In 2018, then-CEO Jack Dorsey admitted the liberal leanings of many Twitter employees and intensified his courtship of Republicans with a private dinner in Georgetown, The Washington Post reported.
The tightrope seldom satisfied either side.
The DeSantis event signals for Twitter and Musk a «turn to identify with the Republican Party,» Seth Masket, a professor of political science at the University of Denver and director of its Center for American Politics, said in a substack post.
Masket said in an interview that Twitter’s previous management seemed to be having trouble with how best to respond to complaints from conservatives, but said Musk’s overall vision isn’t entirely clear either.
“It doesn’t strike me as looking to be an alternative to Fox,” Masket said. «I think he has a particular vision of free speech: I’ve never had the impression that it’s very well thought out, but it’s the freedom to express controversial points of view without much criticism.»
Musk’s presence at the audio-only Twitter Spaces event all but secured a much bigger megaphone for DeSantis than the governor would have had for a social media announcement. It was also a signal to Musk’s rabid fan base that the tech billionaire was at least curious to hear DeSantis’ speech.
The event follows other moves by Musk to embrace right-wing politics. He has personally applauded former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for planning a show on the platform and reinstated the accounts of Trump and others banned by Twitter’s previous administration.
The DeSantis event fits a pattern, progressives said.
“This is one of several ways that Musk is trying to reposition Twitter as a new media platform for Republicans,” said Matthew Sheffield, a former conservative online writer who now edits a progressive site, Flow.
And in posts on Musk’s own account, Musk has attacked liberals like George Soros in ways widely considered anti-Semitic and spread memes associated with white supremacy, while also ensuring that his posts and those of people willing to paying a monthly fee take precedence in people’s opinion. Twitter feeds.
“What we are seeing is that Twitter is becoming Elon Musk’s blog. He is the editor-in-chief,” Shakir said.
“That is the way we should look at Twitter. The problem is that Twitter has become too powerful and too big,” she said.
Musk bought Twitter in November for $44 billion and quickly moved to remake both the company and its service, firing most Twitter employees and relaxing rules on objectionable content such as hate symbols.
Katie Harbath, a former director of public policy for Facebook who previously worked on Republican campaigns, wrote in a substack post that there was no precedent for Musk playing such a prominent role in DeSantis’ kickoff, though he wrote that it reminded him of Democrat John Edwards announcing his presidential bid on YouTube in 2007.
But he wrote that, in general, Republicans should be wary of Musk.
«Musk is not necessarily the friend of the Republicans,» he wrote. “Musk is opportunistic and aligns a little with the Republicans, but that’s to his advantage right now. By the time he’s gone, Republicans shouldn’t expect any kind of loyalty.»
Goff, a former Obama campaign staffer, said Musk also doesn’t seem to value long-term relationships with Democrats.
“Digging an even bigger ditch with a political party that will be in power for a period of its life is not a great strategy,” he said.
Musk’s businesses are heavily regulated by the federal government. SpaceX Enjoys Big Revenue From Federal Contracts, Tesla Is Under The Department Of Justice investigationand Twitter’s future depends on Congress not revoking its immunity from many lawsuits.
Shakir said Democrats and progressives can’t ignore or boycott Twitter exactly the way they sometimes do Fox News. Twitter still has a core of politically conscious users, including many journalists who have no similar platform to fall back on, reflecting what Shakir said is a worrying concentration of economic and political power by tech companies in general.
“It has become such a useful resource for so many consumers of information that its ability to alter algorithms has incredible power and scope,” Shakir said.