U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), having already lost her personal Twitter account for promoting COVID misinformation, is now attacking noted historian, author, and conservative columnist Max Boot for expressing concern about billionaire Elon Musk’s attempt to take over Twitter.
Musk, not only currently the richest person on the planet, but the richest person in history, was sanctioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission and ordered to pay Tesla shareholders $40 million over his Twitter posts in 2018 ($20 million from Musk, $20 million from Tesla.) He was also ordered to have his tweets vetted before posting, which he is now fighting.
Friday morning Musk officially attempted to buy the social media platform, after almost joining the company’s board earlier in the week, which came after a late disclosure he had purchased more than nine percent of the company’s stock.
“I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter,” Boot, a former Republican, said on Twitter. “He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.”
Rep. Greene went ballistic, calling Boot a “communist.”
She was quickly mocked, including by Boot himself.
But Boot also made a serious observation about the response to his original tweet:
“All the hyperventilating from Trumpist trolls in response to this post (claiming that content moderation=fascism) is a good example of the worst of social media. It’s corrosive tendencies should be curbed not amplified. Trump must never be allowed on Twitter again.”
Others chimed in too:
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