While it’s no doubt a tough gig being the head honcho of a multibillion-dollar social media company, it seems that the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, is handling things with total professionalism, having settled into the new position fairly well. He’s doing so well, it seems, that he has some extra time to help with some fact-checking duties.
According to the Conservative Brief, Rep. Adam “Shifty” Schiff decided to take a few big shots at Musk on Thursday, but the California Democrat was not ready for the response that was going to come back his way. Schiff made a couple of false claims concerning the rise of abuse on Twitter since Musk took over and started to implement rules more conducive to free speech, but the billionaire was not about to let him get away with that kind of nonsense.
“On Elon Musk’s Twitter: – Slurs against Black people have tripled – Slurs against women are up 33% – Slurs against Jewish people are up 61% – And slurs against gay men are up 58% These numbers are abysmal – and unacceptable. Today, @RepMarkTakano and I are demanding action,” Schiff posted on Twitter.
“False, hate speech impressions are actually down by 1/3 for Twitter now vs prior to acquisition @CommunityNotes,” Musk responded with pure fire.
False, hate speech impressions are actually down by 1/3 for Twitter now vs prior to acquisition @CommunityNotes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 8, 2022
“Previously, the controversial Democratic lawmaker accused Musk of abusing animals during testing for one of his technology companies, Neuralink,” the report revealed.
“When he’s not sabotaging safeguards against digital misinformation and hate, Or laying off thousands of employees, Elon Musk is running a company that performs cruel and deadly tests on animals? Doesn’t sound like a genius to me. Not even an unstable one,” Schiff posted.
When he's not sabotaging safeguards against digital misinformation and hate,
Or laying off thousands of employees,
Elon Musk is running a company that performs cruel and deadly tests on animals?
Doesn’t sound like a genius to me.Not even an unstable one.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 7, 2022
Last week, the Twitter executive officer posted up a graphic that demonstrated hate speech incidents have declined since he took control of the platform.
“Hate speech impressions (# of times tweet was viewed) continue to decline, despite significant user growth! @TwitterSafety will publish data weekly. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of reach. Negativity should & will get less reach than positivity,” he shared.
Hate speech impressions (# of times tweet was viewed) continue to decline, despite significant user growth!@TwitterSafety will publish data weekly.
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of reach. Negativity should & will get less reach than positivity. pic.twitter.com/36zl29rCSM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022
Schiff is probably just feeling down and out about the fact that his time as part of the Democratic Party leadership within the House of Representatives is likely coming to an end, as the Republicans coming in next month are taking control of the chamber.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is expected to be the new Speaker of the House, has promised to boot Schiff from his current position.
“Another change you’re going to get, Adam Schiff will no longer be on the Intel Committee when I become speaker. I promised that more than two years ago,” McCarthy remarked during an interview conducted with Fox News.
“[Democrats] also used the intel community as well to lie to the American public. Should those people keep their clearances? Should those people still be allowed to have information? If they’re going to be political individuals, then, no, they should not. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we need to investigate going forward,” he said.
In November, McCarthy revealed he also plans to get rid of Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar from congressional committees for their past conduct.