House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy accused the White House of unfairly targeting Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk over his political views, calling it “offensive.”
(Bloomberg) — House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy accused the White House of unfairly targeting Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk over his political views, calling it “offensive.”
“The government’s going to go after someone who wants to have free speech? What do they have to look at Twitter about?,” McCarthy said Tuesday outside the White House following a meeting with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders.
“I think the American public had spoken on this, I think our First Amendment stands up and I think they should just stop picking on Elon Musk.”
Musk, a self-styled champion of free speech who acquired Twitter for $44 billion, has begun revamping the company’s content moderation policies. Those changes have spurred worries from civil rights groups and advertisers that Twitter could become a haven for hate speech or disinformation.
Asked about Twitter on Monday, Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House was “monitoring what’s currently occurring” but did not mention Musk in her remarks.
“Social media companies have a responsibility to prevent their platforms from being used by any user to incite violence, especially violence directed at individual communities, as we have been seeing,” Jean-Pierre said.
Musk responded on Monday to a Twitter user who shared video of Jean-Pierre’s remarks.
McCarthy and Musk are close and the Tesla Inc. CEO attended a Wyoming event the GOP leader hosted in August. Musk’s SpaceX also has operations in McCarthy’s Bakersfield, California-area district and he has previously donated to both Republican and Democratic candidates.
Read more: Musk Among Guests as McCarthy Raises Money on Cheney’s Home Turf
Ahead of the midterms, though, Musk told his over 100 million Twitter followers to vote for Republicans, a departure from other CEOs in the US who have largely shunned political activism to avoid alienating consumers. Republicans narrowly won control of the House, putting McCarthy on the path to becoming speaker.
“To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk wrote.
McCarthy on Tuesday praised Musk as someone who had “succeeded in many places.”
“I’d bet on him more than government going after you and one thing I would say when we talk about accountability, we’ll no longer let government go after people simply because of their political views,” he said.
–With assistance from Anna Edgerton.
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