He gave no additional particulars and was solely briefly glimpsed by reporters on the Hill.
It stays unclear whether or not the primary goal of Musk’s go to was to fulfill with McCarthy alone. An aide to Jeffries instructed The Washington Post that the Democratic chief and Musk had solely a coincidental encounter because the billionaire was leaving his assembly with McCarthy. The particular person spoke on the situation of anonymity to explain the non-public change.
Musk’s efforts to overtake Twitter have catapulted the corporate to the forefront of a heated, years-long debate over how social media giants average political speech. His go to to Capitol Hill comes as lawmakers from each events have known as for brand spanking new legal guidelines to handle tech corporations’ rising grip on political discourse.
Yet regardless of a half decade of hearings and investigations centered on Silicon Valley tech giants, lawmakers largely stay at an deadlock on tips on how to regulate the trade. Republicans plan to make use of their management of the House to concentrate on allegations that tech corporations are silencing their political opinions on-line, whereas Democrats argue the businesses have finished to little to cease the amplification of violence, extremism and hate.
Since taking on Twitter final fall, Musk has dismantled lots of the key groups that centered on limiting the unfold of violent content material and misinformation on Twitter. He additionally has overturned the suspensions on many conservative accounts that violated Twitter’s guidelines beneath earlier firm management, together with former president Trump’s account, which was completely banned within the wake of the violence at the Capitol.
Musk’s strikes have largely been cheered by Republican politicians, who’ve accused tech corporations for years of harboring a bias towards conservatives. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have seized on the “Twitter Files,” leaked inner communications about how the corporate dealt with content material moderation within the run-up to the 2020 election and the pandemic.
Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, has said in interviews that he plans to research whether or not the federal government performed a task in Twitter’s choice to suppress a 2020 New York Post story about President Biden’s son Hunter. The Twitter Files have proven that the corporate independently determined to restrict the unfold of the article, with out Democratic politicians, the Biden marketing campaign or FBI exerting management.
Meanwhile, Democrats have reacted with alarm at Musk’s efforts to unwind the corporate’s earlier investments in security. Democrats have criticized his choice to unwind the corporate’s Trust and Safety Council and blasted his choice to droop the accounts of distinguished journalists, together with The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, who stays locked out of Twitter.
Lawmakers shared little about what was mentioned in the course of the assembly. Asked in regards to the assembly, McCarthy, who turned 58 on Thursday, declined to remark however quipped that Musk “came to wish me happy birthday,” including “we’ve been friends for years.”
Representatives for McCarthy didn’t instantly reply to an early Friday request for remark from The Washington Post.
Musk, who can be CEO of Tesla, beforehand championed McCarthy in the course of the historic stalemate within the House speaker vote earlier this month, which noticed him take up the gavel solely after 15 rounds of ballots and days of inner Republican wrangling.
“Kevin McCarthy should be Speaker,” the tech billionaire tweeted at the time, lending his assist to the California Republican. “If not McCarthy, then seriously who?” Musk added, prompting customers to induce him to remain politically impartial.
In May 2022, Musk said he had beforehand voted Democrat however might “no longer support them” and would swap to the Republican Party as an alternative.
McCarthy has additionally publicly supported Musk previously, telling reporters last year that the Biden administration ought to “stop picking on Elon Musk” after President Biden stated that points of Musk’s enterprise dealings deserved scrutiny.
Since taking on Twitter, Musk has reinstated Trump, following a Twitter ballot, in addition to the accounts of different distinguished figures who had been banned within the wake of the revolt. Trump has to this point declined to tweet since being reinstated, opting to make use of his Truth Social platform as an alternative. He has stated he won’t rejoin Twitter — however it stays unclear if he’ll keep on with that as he launches his bid to return to the White House in 2024.
This week, social media behemoth Meta introduced that it was additionally reinstating Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram after a two-year suspension over his function in praising the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an assault that left a number of useless and many injured. Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House on a cost of inciting an revolt, though the Senate then acquitted him.
“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of world affairs, said this week. “But that does not mean there are no limits to what people can say on our platform,” he added.
Social media platforms have struggled to steadiness the necessity to allow the general public to view doubtlessly newsworthy however divisive posts from world leaders, with their content material moderation insurance policies and the doubtless dangerous penalties of that rhetoric.
Naomi Nix and Tony Romm contributed to this report.