Lies about Elon Musk’s X have sparked some of the worst race riots in British history. Musk recently posted a comment to his hundreds of millions of followers claiming that “civil war is inevitable” in Britain and that the British criminal justice system is more lenient towards Muslims than far-right activists.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton sent Musk an open letter reminding him of EU laws against the spread of harmful content “promoting hatred, unrest, incitement to violence or certain cases of disinformation” and warning that the EU will be “extremely vigilant” to protect “EU citizens from serious harm”.
Musk’s response was a meme that read: “TAKE A BIG STEP BACK AND LITERALLY SHIT IN YOUR OWN FACE!”
As I noted last week, Americans are also being exposed to lies and bigotry on Musk’s X—and not just because Musk fired the entire staff that kept such filth off the platform; Musk also posts and promotes some of this content himself.
Musk recently released an AI chatbot that falsely told tens of millions of Americans in several swing states, including Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, that “the deadline to vote has passed.”
Secretaries of state in five states called on Musk to make “immediate changes” to his chatbot, but Musk has not done so.
Evidence is mounting that Russia and other foreign agents are using X to manipulate this year’s presidential election, presumably in Trump’s favor. Musk refuses to do anything about it.
What to do with Musk? I suggested to advertisers that they boycott X. Now Musk is suing the advertisers for this, claiming they are violating antitrust laws.
It’s time to get tough on Musk. Here are some suggestions.
First, the Federal Trade Commission should require Musk to remove lies that have the potential to endanger individuals or threaten our democracy, and if he fails to do so, it should sue him under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
Musk’s First Amendment free speech rights do not prevail over the public interest. Seven weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled that federal agencies can pressure social media platforms to remove misinformation—a technical victory for the public good (technical because the court based its decision on the plaintiff’s lack of standing).
The US government – and we taxpayers – have additional power over Musk if we are willing to use it: The US should terminate its contracts with him, starting with Musk’s SpaceX.
In 2021, the United States signed a secret $1.8 billion contract with SpaceX to launch classified and military satellites, according toThe Wall Street JournalThe funds now represent an important part of SpaceX’s revenue.
The Pentagon has also signed a deal with SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service to fund internet connections, despite Musk’s denial of Ukraine’s use of Starlink to attack Russian forces in Crimea in September 2022.
Last August, the Pentagon provided $70 million to SpaceX’s Starshield unit to provide communications services to dozens of Pentagon partners.
SpaceX now dominates the rocket launch market. Its rockets accounted for two-thirds of all flights from American launch sites in 2022 and handled 88 percent in the first six months of this year. SpaceX is also the only company that carries NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
When deciding which private companies to contract with, the US government looks at the contractor’s reliability. Musk’s erratic, impulsive temperament makes him and the companies he leads unreliable. The government also looks at whether it contributes to a monopoly. Musk’s SpaceX is fast becoming one.
Why does the U.S. government allow Musk’s satellites and missile launchers to become essential to national security when he has total disregard for the public interest? Why give Musk more economic power when he has repeatedly abused it and shown contempt for the public good?
There is no good reason. American taxpayers should stop subsidizing Elon Musk. Immediately.
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former Secretary of Labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/
