As riots raged across the UK, Elon Musk began making inflammatory comments about the situation, including stating: “Civil war is inevitable”. Musk is the owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as X.
Atug Khan Senkar | Anadolu | Getty Images
Although senior managers are from letter, Yuan and Microsoft Heading to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a hearing on election threats, Elon Musk’s X will not attend.
A representative for Sen. Mark R. Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an emailed statement that X “refuses to send appropriate witnesses.” No further details were provided.
A spokesman for Warner’s office said X declined to send a replacement after Pickles left.
The hearing is titled “Foreign Threats to the 2024 Elections—The Role and Responsibilities of U.S. Technology Providers.” Alphabet will be represented by President and Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker, while Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, will represent the social networking company. Microsoft President Brad Smith will represent the software giant.
The hearing, chaired by Warner (D-Va.) and committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), centered on lawmakers’ concerns about foreign entities seeking to use them to influence the outcome of November’s presidential election. .
Alphabet and Microsoft recently released research on Iranian and Russian hacking groups influencing or attacking officials associated with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Hackers used a variety of tactics including spear phishing.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration said aim The Russian government supports attempts to influence American public opinion.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement at the time that “we will relentlessly counter and disrupt attempts by Russia, Iran, and China or any other foreign malign actors” to “interfere with the election and undermine our members.” ”. .
X’s absence from Wednesday’s hearing comes after Musk, the world’s richest man, published a series of divisive posts on the app he acquired in 2022, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk shared and then deleted a piece of content following a second apparent assassination attempt on Republican former President Donald Trump over the weekend. postal Questioning why there haven’t been more assassination threats against President Biden and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Both Biden and Harris received assassination threats During his tenure.
european news agency also reported This week, Musk shared content on X that was created by the Social Design Agency, which leads a propaganda campaign under the direction of the Kremlin, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
On Wednesday, Musk shared A false report on X claiming explosives were found in a car near a Trump planned rally in Long Island, New York. according to a statement Nassau County Police Departmenta civilian near the rally site falsely claimed to have discovered explosives.
During the early stages of Wednesday afternoon’s meeting, Warner said it was “unfortunate” that no one from X was present. He said the company was a “collaborator” before Musk took over.
“Under X’s leadership, they were absent and some of the most egregious activity occurred on the platform,” Warner said.
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