Gary Zhou 
Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk has called out the Associated Press over the news agency’s claims about misinformation on Twitter. The AP had noted that false claims about the 2020 US elections being “rigged” are still “thriving” on the social media platform.
As per the Associated Press, an analysis by media intelligence firm Zignal Labs on behalf of the publication found that the ten most widely shared tweets which promoted the idea that the 2020 election was interfered with went unaddressed by Twitter’s anti-misinformation processes, such as the platform’s Community Notes feature.
The AP also reported that “dozens” of other tweets with similar claims remained unaddressed and unlabeled. While Zignal Labs’ focus on ten tweets and several dozen others may represent a small sample size, Musk has maintained in the past that he intends to make Twitter into a platform with the least amount of misinformation.
With this in mind, it was no surprise that Musk called out the Associated Press for its claims that election misinformation was “thriving” without being corrected. In a reply to the publication’s post, Musk wrote, “Either back up your claims @AP with actual source data or retract your story.”
Musk’s Twitter purchase and his current leadership of the social media platform have received polarizing reactions from his followers online. Even longtime TSLA supporters have posted stern criticisms against the CEO for his careless and seemingly haphazard way of leading Twitter. Despite this, however, things appear to be stabilizing somewhat.
As per Musk, he has selected a new CEO for Twitter — Linda Yaccarino — and she will be starting in a few weeks. Yaccarino is a veteran in the advertising field, something that would likely be very useful for Twitter considering that advertisements are crucial for the social media platform’s finances.
