Statement on Elon Musk’s Embrace of Ron DeSantis: “Companies that give ad money to Twitter might as well be cutting a check to the DeSantis campaign”

For Immediate Release
May 24, 2023
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

Accountable Tech’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill released the following statement ahead of Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign launch on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk:

“Elon Musk has already turned Twitter into a hellscape of hate and conspiracy. But his full-throated embrace of Ron DeSantis – only weeks after Tucker Carlson announced he would revive his Fox News show on Twitter – is a new low for what was once one of the world’s most important communication platforms.

“Despite Musk’s insistence that Twitter will be a neutral home for open discourse and ‘free speech,’ he has used it to boost his own opinions, pander to Putin, and help foreign governments censor critics. Now, Musk’s Twitter is officially a megaphone for one party’s extremism.

“Every single company still advertising on Twitter better be comfortable with banning books, whitewashing history, and threatening LGBTQ+ families, because as of today, companies giving ad money to Twitter might as well be cutting a check to the DeSantis campaign.”

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Statements

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Accountable Tech Statement on Advancement of California’s Landmark AI Safety Bill

Today, the California General Assembly passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047) — a landmark bill that would require AI developers to adhere to common sense safety guidelines for new AI models. The legislation, which is sponsored by California State Senator Scott Wiener, would introduce crucial guardrails around AI development, including requiring pre-deployment safety testing and third-party auditing. The bill will head back to the State Senate for a confirmation vote and then to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.

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