The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk set the stage for a wild week. The billionaire’s transformation of social media giant Twitter began with top executives, including Gadde Vijaya (chief censor), being kicked out. Friday saw over half of the company’s workforce being laid off.
The consternation was like milk and honey. There were threats of lawsuits and even claims that people were being treated inhumanely. It’s like actually having to work and stuff, which is something Twitter employees aren’t used to between visits to the coffee shop and yoga studio. Musk made his first mistake despite all the good news.
He bent his knee.
Talked to civil society leaders @JGreenblattADL, @YaelEisenstat, @rashadrobinson, @JGo4Justice, @normanlschen, @DerrickNAACP, @TheBushCenter Ken Hersch & @SindyBenavides about how Twitter will continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
The right raised an alarm when that tweet was sent. Musk was giving bad-faith actors, who spent years trying to silence political opponents, a seat at a table. All that was wrong in Twitter’s past times was due to the leftwing censorship promoted by these people and entities. To throw in “The Bush Center” as the only representative of conservatives among a sea of far-left social justice grifters? It felt like a joke. It felt like a joke.
Musk found his platform being boycotted today by the very same organizations he was trying to appease after he got down on one knee and kissed the ring.
Today, we are joining dozens of other groups to ask advertisers to pause Twitter spending because we are profoundly concerned about antisemitism and hate on the platform. Here’s why we’re asking advertisers to #StopHateForProfit and #StopToxicTwitter🧵https://t.co/a83e2eTFwz
— ADL (@ADL) November 4, 2022
It is immoral, dangerous, and highly destructive to our democracy for any advertiser to fund a platform that fuels hate speech, election denialism and conspiracy theories. Until actions are taken to make this a safe space, we call on companies to pause all advertising on Twitter.
— Derrick Johnson (@DerrickNAACP) November 4, 2022
Musk is the richest man on the planet, but he still exhibits a childlike ignorance when it comes to politics. He believes he can make people like him, just as Donald Trump continues to run for The New York Times. The ADL, NAACP, and others aren’t playing by the same rules and never will. It was all a setup from the beginning.
The ADL, for example, never mentioned a boycott of Twitter during Louis Farrakhan’s antisemitic speech. Nor did they suggest any boycott against the Ayatollah’s anti-Jewish rantings. These left-wing organizations decided that the money had to stop flowing only after Musk was elected. It is so convenient! It should have been expected.
Musk believed he could make things easier, but that plan has proven disastrous. Musk should have made it a rule not to engage with bad-faith people from the time he signed the contract. Musk didn’t establish that rule and followed it. Now he will learn a valuable lesson and possibly lose a lot of his money. There are already signs that Musk is getting the message. He’s pledging not to listen to activists in the future.
This was an unforced mistake. Musk must learn who his friends really are and how to build on that. Since he announced his intent to buy Twitter, Democrats have been spitting on him daily. No matter how many concessions he makes, they aren’t going to be there suddenly.
This is the lesson: Never bend your knees.
