Senate Democrats are reportedly considering holding a hearing for Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk after he bought Twitter for $44 billion.
There are no concrete plans, but “We’re thinking about it,” Democratic Washington Sen. and Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell said Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
Cantwell added that hearings have been held in the past for former Twitter Inc. chief executive Jack Dorsey, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai, Bloomberg reported.
Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey said having a hearing is important since Twitter is “central to democracy.”
“It’s a technology which is central to democracy and our economy and it is important for the representatives of the American people to hear what the new owners intend on using that technology to accomplish,” Markey said, according to Bloomberg. “We have to understand the censorship or lack thereof, content moderation or not, that is going to be the policy for the new owner.”
“In terms of what the values are that this company is going to be creating for the new Elon Musk Twitter world, I think that’s actually a necessary role for Congress to play,” he reportedly added. (RELATED: ‘Our Protest Worked‘: Charlie Kirk Returns To Twitter After Elon Musk’s ‘New Promises’ For Free Speech)
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal also reportedly said he would be in favor of having a hearing for Musk.
“There is a powerful imperative to ask him to tell Congress and the American people how he’s going to address the concerns that we’ve raised,” he said, according to the outlet.
Musk has spoken about the importance of free speech on the platform.
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
“By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people,” Musk tweeted.
“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 also said. “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.”
