Elon Musk called the Department of Homeland Security’s newly-created board targeting misinformation “discomforting” Thursday on Twitter.
The Department of Homeland Security formed the Disinformation Governance Board to begin countering disinformation and misinformation. Musk responded to comedian and political commentator Steven Crowder comparing the newly formed board to the Nazis.
“The government is creating a misinformation governance board,” Crowder said. “Who else did something like that? Oh I remember, the Nazis. And there’s some data showing some interesting things going on post-@elonmusk’s Twitter takeover!”
“Discomforting,” Musk replied.
Discomforting
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022
Musk vowed to foster free speech and open debate on Twitter after buying out the platform for $43.4 billion. He outlined the importance of free speech in upholding a “functioning democracy” shortly after the buyout in a Monday statement.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans.”
The administration appointed Nina Jankowicz, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, to serve as the board’s executive director. Jankowicz formerly cast doubt on the reports of the Hunter Biden laptop story and claimed the now-discredited Steele dossier was funded by Republicans in a 2017 tweet. (RELATED: ‘Incredibly Inappropriate’: Musk Rips Twitter For Suspending The New York Post For Their Hunter Biden Story)
She has also raised concerns about Musk’s purchase of Twitter, saying, “I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities all around the world.”
She described the board as an “internal mechanism working to better coordinate the Department’s work to counter disinformation” while protecting “free expression, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties” in a LinkedIn post.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the board seeks to “prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country, but had no comment on concerns surrounding Jankowicz leadership at a Thursday press briefing. The press secretary previously said in February that Big Tech needs to take more steps to “call out mis-and disinformation” in response to podcast host Joe Rogan hosting vaccine skeptic and prominent virologist Dr. Robert Malone.