(Bloomberg) — The largest US Latino civil rights organization says it was shut out of a meeting with Elon Musk when Twitter’s new owner invited its ousted leader to the table.
(Bloomberg) — The largest US Latino civil rights organization says it was shut out of a meeting with Elon Musk when Twitter’s new owner invited its ousted leader to the table.
The group said it missed an opportunity on Monday to engage with Musk on his plans to handle hate speech on Twitter because he met with Sindy Benavides, who was terminated as LULAC’s chief executive officer Oct. 22.
Musk tweeted on Tuesday that he met with the heads of human rights groups including the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, to discuss his plans to handle misinformation on the platform.
Benavides “does not represent LULAC in any capacity before any audience,” David Cruz, LULAC’s communications director, told Bloomberg News. “Her presence denied us having a voice and adding our perspective to this important debate at a critical time in our history.”
LULAC’s national board voted to terminate Benavides, according to a press release the group issued last month that said it was the “start of a new era” for the group.
LULAC in recent weeks has broken down into two competing factions, with each claiming they are the legitimate leaders of the organization. After the majority of LULAC’s board voted to terminate Benavides’ contract, a splinter group of the organization voted confirm her as one of their leaders, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Benavides said Wednesday that her role is “making the voices of the Latino community are heard.”
“Even though we have internal governance issues happening, which will be sorted out in the court of law, my role will be to not be distracted by these issues and carry on the mission of the organization,” Benavides said in a phone interview.
Twitter didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The incident shows how complicated it will be for Musk to navigate the dynamics of the civil rights community as he seeks to work with its leaders, many of whom have expressed concern over his plans to eliminate some of Twitter’s safeguards against hate speech, misinformation and violence.
Musk, who describes himself as a free speech absolutist, previously said he hopes to reduce Twitter’s content moderation efforts and restore the accounts of users who have been removed — including former President Donald Trump, who was suspended in the wake of the violent Capitol Hill riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
But Musk on Tuesday tweeted that “Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks.”
He said he met with civil society leaders — including the heads of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Anti-Defamation League and more — in order to talk “about how Twitter will continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies.”
Dozens of advocacy groups in an open letter this week called on Twitter’s top advertisers to boycott the platform if Musk lowers safety standards for content.
(Updates with statement from Sindy Benavides starting with seventh paragraph. A previous version of the story corrected the name of LULAC’s ousted CEO in third paragraph)
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