Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks sent a letter Wednesday to Elon Musk, who recently became Twitter’s single largest shareholder and will sit on Twitter Inc.’s board of directors, calling on him to revise the social media company’s content policy to allow all speech that is legal and accurate.
The Daily Caller first obtained the letter to Musk, who bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc. or around 73.5 million shares, making him the largest shareholder, according to an SEC filing posted Monday. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal then announced Tuesday that Musk will serve on Twitter’s board despite his past criticism of the platform, saying he hopes they can work together to make the platform stronger.
In the letter, Banks mentions a number of issues with Twitter and free speech, mentioning when Twitter suspended him in October for a tweet about biological sex and how Twitter reportedly suspended critics of NCAA transgender athlete Lia Thomas. Banks also mentions tweets about the COVID-19 vaccine and Hunter Biden’s laptop being suppressed.
“Now that you are Twitter’s single largest shareholder, I urge you to advocate for revising Twitter’s content policy to allow all speech that is both lawful and factually accurate. This would be a basic but important step towards restoring free expression to a platform that you described as the ‘de facto public town square’,” Banks wrote in the letter. (RELATED: Elon Musk Becomes Largest Shareholder Of Twitter)
READ THE LETTER HERE:
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers
“While this change is simple, it would significantly alter Twitter’s current censorship practices. Twitter has censored an alarming number of true statements. For example, Twitter suspended me last October 3 for a factually correct tweet about biological sex and most recently suspended critics of NCAA transgender athlete Lia Thomas. Considering Twitter’s content policy has explicitly banned telling the truth, this shouldn’t be surprising. In 2021, Twitter changed its terms of service to prohibit all ‘false or misleading claims that people who have received the vaccine can spread or shed the virus. Of course, the COVID vaccine does not prevent the transmission of the virus,” Banks continued in the letter.
Twitter shares closed up over 20% after Musk bought his stake in Twitter. (RELATED: CEO Announces Elon Musk Will Serve On Board, ‘Is Exactly’ What Twitter Needs Because He’s An ‘Intense Critic’)
“This is an inflection point for Twitter. They can continue down the current path of censorship and erosion of public trust or they can reverse course and protect freedom of expression. Mr. Musk has an impressive record of success, and unlike most Big Tech executives, does not seem afraid of the woke mob. I hope and expect he will change Twitter for the better,” Banks told the Daily Caller before sending the letter.