Several NGOs come together to try to prevent Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter

Several fundamental rights NGOs have teamed up in hopes of stopping Elon Musk from buying the social networking company Twitter, fearing that the millionaire would allow bad behavior to develop on the platform.

“If we don’t prevent this process, he (Musk) will give a megaphone to demagogues and extremists, who (…) incite hatred, violence and harassment,” said Nicole Gill, CEO of Accountable Tech, in a statement. Friday.

This association, which is dedicated to holding big digital companies to account, and dozens of others, wants to put pressure on authorities, shareholders and advertisers.

In particular, they want regulators to take a “closer” look at Musk’s controversial project, which has already had numerous conflicts with the US Securities Exchange Regulatory Authority (SEC).

The NGO coalition also hopes to “mobilize shareholders”, “who are made more vulnerable” by Musk’s “irregular behaviour”, he argues. He also remembers that Tesla stock has “lost about a third of its value” since the beginning of April.

At the end of May, Twitter shareholders filed a complaint against Musk, who accused him of manipulating the market for savings in his attempt to acquire the company.

Musk said he intends to free up the word on Twitter, which he considers an essential public space in democracies, and that he views moderation in current content as a form of censorship, similarly, in effect, to many Republican members of Congress.

On the other hand, the left in the United States and many organizations realize that, on the contrary, the social network does not struggle enough against disinformation and attacks on minorities.