Twitter CEO Elon Musk responded to music legend Elton John’s announcement Friday that he will be departing Twitter over alleged misinformation.
John announced he is leaving Twitter following the lift in policies that, he argued, will allow misinformation to spread across the platform. In his seemingly amicable response, Musk questioned the musician on any specific misinformation that caused him concern.
“All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world,” John announced on Twitter. “I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”
“I love your music,” Musk replied. “Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?”
I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
Twitter announced in late November that the platform will no longer enforce its “COVID-19 misleading information policy,” meaning the social media company will not remove claims about the virus or vaccines that were previously deemed false or misleading, according to the Associated Press.
Public figures have voiced concerns about alleged misinformation and hateful speech since Musk took over the platform Oct. 27. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration is “keeping an eye on” Twitter for suspected misinformation, hateful speech and general news. (RELATED: Twitter Users Are Threatening To Ditch Platform Over Elon Musk Purchase)
“We are monitoring what’s currently occurring and we see with our own eyes what you are reporting and just for ourselves what’s happening on Twitter,” Jean-Pierre said at a briefing Nov. 28. “But again, social media companies have a responsibility to prevent their platforms from being used by any user citing violence, especially violence directed at individual communities as we have been seeing and the president has been very clear on calling that out. He’ll continue to do that and we will continue to monitor the situation.”
Jean-Pierre further accused Musk of using the so-called “Twitter Files” to distract from facing “very real and very serious questions” about the alleged rise in misinformation and hate speech on the platform.
Musk disputed a report cited by Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff on Thursday which found hate speech against minority groups has surged since the former’s takeover. The Twitter CEO argued “hate speech impressions” decreased by one-third between Oct. 20 and Nov. 22.