Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday said she doesn’t trust Elon Musk in the wake of his Twitter acquisition, citing concerns about a lack of content moderation to keep racist, antisemitic and other such material off on the platform.
“Now that Elon Musk runs Twitter, do you trust him?” host Chuck Todd asked Klobuchar on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“No, I do not,” the Minnesota senator said.
Musk closed a drawn-out deal with Twitter by a court-imposed Friday deadline last week and moved swiftly to make changes to the platform as he assumes his new CEO role.
Reports have noted that racist and antisemitic Tweets spread on the platform in recent days amid Musk’s plans to end lifetime Twitter bans for users such as former President Trump.
Klobuchar on Sunday cited concerns about content moderation and said she wants to reduce immunity for platforms amplifying hate speech.
She called attention to antisemitic tropes, violence and “election-denying, pro-Trump, MAGA crowd rhetoric” hosted on the platform. “That’s what we’re dealing with here.”
She noted it was a “good sign” that Musk appeared open to some content moderation but said she continues to be concerned about the matter.
“I just don’t think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff that’s a bunch of lies,” Klobuchar said.
The Democrat noted that networks need to screen television commercials for any false information before they air.
“That is not a requirement of these companies. And we have to change the requirements on these companies. They’re making money off of us. They’re making money off of this violence,” she said.