Leaders of prominent human rights organizations refute Elon Musk’s allegations that they violated their deal with him by urging businesses to stop using Twitter for advertising.
Musk tweeted,
a large coalition of political/social activist groups agreed not to try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenue if I agreed to this condition. They broke the deal.
Musk reinstated Trump’s Twitter account
Surprisingly Musk didn’t give more details about the agreement. The tweet responded to one follower who accused him of lying after promising to establish a content moderation council. Musk had indicated that there would be no account reinstatement or major content decisions before the council convenes.
However, over the weekend, Musk reinstated former US president Donald Trump to Twitter after running a poll on the platform. Trump was previously expelled from Twitter following the January 6 2020, US Capitol insurrection. As Trump continued to assert that the 2020 election was rigged, Twitter executives feared his presence and continuous usage of the platform might spark additional bloodshed.
Early this month, several civil rights organizations urged businesses to stop advertising on the platform following the rise in incidents o hate speech on Twitter. The groups were also concerned that it might be hard to moderate hate speech and inappropriate content after the company fired several employees.
Civil rights groups deny making any deal with MuskMusk
Responding to Musk’s remarks, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People CEO Derrick Johnson said that civil rights organizations could not enter such a deal because democracy comes first.
Johnson said:
The decisions being made at Twitter are dangerous, and it is our duty, as it has been since our founding, to speak out against threats to our democracy. Hate speech and violent conspiracies can have no safe harbor.
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and Free Press affirmed Johnson’s remarks that the groups hadn’t made any deal with MuskMusk.
A statement from Free Press indicated,
Musk is losing advertisers because he’s acted irresponsibly, slashing content moderation teams that help keep brands safe and gutting the very sales teams responsible for maintaining relationships with advertisers. The main person responsible for the Twitter advertiser exodus is Elon Musk.
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