Elon Musk Said Twitter ‘Must Be Politically Neutral,’ Then Endorsed Republicans

The day before the hugely consequential midterm elections, petulant billionaire and newly minted Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted some Olympic-level both-sides-ism and encouraged people to vote for Republicans on Tuesday.

“To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” he wrote.

Firstly, suggesting that the sins of the Democratic and Republican parties are on equal footing is just patently false. Sure, Democrats have declined to ban members of Congress from trading stocks—but that’s very different from refusing to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election and egging on would-be insurrectionists.

Secondly, sophomore-in-college libertarian brain aside, it’s chilling to see Musk endorse Republicans on a platform that flags mis- and disinformation about elections and voting, and which he now owns. Musk has claimed that he wants Twitter to be “politically neutral” and “the most accurate source of information about the world,” but he just endorsed the party of election denials and conspiracy theories.

Since he acquired Twitter late last month, Musk also pushed to make verification a paid feature. Musk has also pledged to prioritize tweets from verified users in replies, mentions, and search, and said on Friday that “you’ll have to scroll far to see unverified users.” Musk tweeted on Sunday that this proposed change would “democratize journalism,” but in reality it would boost people spreading unreliable information over news from actual journalists who don’t pay $8 a month, and would also be ripe for impersonation abuse.

The “shared power” Musk invoked in his midterms tweet means a divided government where one party controls the White House and another controls Congress. It’s already extremely difficult for Congress to pass anything of substance, and divided government would make that even harder.

Musk, of course, has his own motives he didn’t disclose: He will benefit if Republicans restore Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

And if Republicans control the House or Senate—especially if they control both—they won’t hold hearings about misinformation, like the ones Twitter founder Jack Dorsey had to attend. Less oversight would certainly be a win for Musk.