Twitter must do its part to limit the spread of false information and hate speech on its platform, says NCL
November 4, 2022
Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832
Washington D.C.—The National Consumers League (NCL), America’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, had previously urged Elon Musk to protect user privacy while continuing to regulate dangerous and misleading content when he announced his plans to acquire Twitter. Now that Musk has finalized his purchase, NCL is seeing worrying signs that one of the largest social media platforms may become an even greater vector for misinformation and dangerous rhetoric.
“As a service that reaches millions of users daily, Twitter has a social responsibility to ensure that its space is not used to spread demonstrably false information or discriminatory messaging,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “All social media platforms, regardless of who their largest shareholder is, must do their part in limiting misinformation that hampers the COVID-19 recovery and hate speech against marginalized populations. This is not an abstract exercise in free speech—these are matters that impact real lives.”
More broadly, Musk’s acquisition is only the latest example of the United States’ regulatory system failing to prevent massive wealth and asset consolidation into the hands of a few. Allowing a select number of billionaires to dominate nearly every industry is disastrous for consumer welfare and incompatible with the nation’s democratic principles.
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.
