Sen. Ed Markey warned Twitter owner Elon Musk to make changes to his social media platform and other businesses unless the billionaire wants to face a government investigation.
The Massachusetts Democrat touted federal regulators previously scrutinizing Mr. Musk’s companies Tesla and Twitter, and he threatened more government action if the billionaire does not submit to his requests.
“Fix your companies,” Mr. Markey tweeted Sunday. “Or Congress will.”
Mr. Markey lashed out at Mr. Musk on Twitter after the SpaceX and Tesla CEO responded on Sunday to the senator’s criticism.
Last week, the senator wrote a sternly worded letter to Mr. Musk complaining that a Washington Post reporter paid $8 to create a Twitter account impersonating Mr. Markey that carried the social media platform’s blue badge that verifies accounts’ authenticity and authority.
Mr. Markey wrote that Twitter had descended into the “Wild West of social media” and published his letter on Twitter demanding the social media platform’s new owner answer his questions within two weeks.
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“I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation,” Mr. Markey tweeted. “Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”
Mr. Musk replied to Mr. Markey’s demand with snark.
“Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?” Mr. Musk tweeted Sunday.
Mr. Musk has experimented with changes to Twitter’s verification process to open it to a wider audience for those willing to pay an $8 monthly fee, which led to a flurry of impersonators mocking prominent brands and users.
Twitter has sought to restrict impersonators that are not openly parody accounts but struggled to keep up with the new verified users.
While the senator may have interpreted Mr. Musk’s response as intransigence, Twitter’s new owner continued to make changes to the verification process a couple of hours after Mr. Markey threatened congressional action.
“Rolling out soon, Twitter will enable organizations to identify which other Twitter accounts are actually associated with them,” Mr. Musk said.
When a Twitter user asked if that meant users will define organizations or if Twitter will pick and choose, Mr. Musk answered that he sees no choice but for Twitter to serve as the final arbiter but that he is open to alternatives.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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