Statement on Elon Musk’s Proposal to Proceed with Twitter Deal

For Immediate Release
October 4, 2022
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

A diverse coalition of nonprofit advocacy groups renews its warnings of the dangers of an Elon Musk-owned Twitter as Musk resumes his bid.

As the Stop the Deal coalition made clear earlier this year, a Musk takeover of Twitter would have swift and devastating impacts on our information ecosystem – threatening the basic safeguards the platform has established to mitigate real-world harms.

The Stop the Deal Coalition released the following statement:

“An Elon Musk takeover of Twitter would provide a megaphone to extremists, threaten public safety, and devastate our already fragile democracy. Musk’s increasingly erratic behavior further proves what our coalition has said all along: This man cannot be allowed to control one of the world’s most powerful communication platforms. The Stop the Deal coalition raised the initial alarm over Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, and we remain committed to stopping this dangerous power grab by the world’s richest man.”

Nicole Gill, Executive Director of Accountable Tech and founding partner of the Stop the Deal Coalition, released the following statement:

“From the start, Musk’s on-again, off-again takeover attempt has been about one thing and one thing only: Elon Musk. He doesn’t care about Twitter users, he doesn’t care about the public good, and he certainly doesn’t care about some warped notion of “free speech.” Our safety and democracy should not be at the whim of unaccountable billionaires – particularly not one who pushes Putin propaganda and would replatform the man responsible for inciting an armed insurrection against the U.S. government. If this ongoing legal saga has proven anything, it’s that Musk is no more qualified to hold the reins of this platform than he is to negotiate world peace.”

Background on the “Stop the Deal” coalition:

In June 2022, a diverse coalition of nonprofit advocacy organizations launched Stop The Deal – a multifaceted campaign designed to prevent Elon Musk’s hostile takeover of Twitter, and stave off the myriad harms to our information ecosystem that would inevitably stem from Musk running Twitter.

Founding members of the #StopTheDeal coalition:

Accountable Tech
Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)
Fair Vote UK
Friends of the Earth
GLAAD
Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
Media Matters for America
MediaJustice
MoveOn
Public Citizen
SumOfUs
The Sparrow Project
UltraViolet

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