Anamika Dey , editor
Brief news
- Elon Musk’s platform, X, did not participate in a Senate hearing on election threats, while executives from Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft attended.
- X’s invited witness, Nick Pickles, resigned prior to the hearing, and the company declined to provide a replacement.
- The hearing focused on foreign interference in U.S. elections, with concerns raised about Musk’s controversial posts and their potential impact.
Detailed news
According to the office of the Senate Intelligence Committee chair, Elon Musk’s X didn’t take part in a hearing on election threats on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, despite the fact that senior executives from Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft were in attendance.
In an email statement, a representative for Sen. Mark R. Warner, the Democratic chair, stated that X “refused to provide an appropriate witness.” There were no additional details furnished.
A spokesperson for X informed CNBC that Nick Pickles, the company’s invited witness, had previously served as the chief of global affairs. However, Pickles “resigned on September 6.” Warner’s office stated that X declined to provide a replacement following Pickles’ departure.
Kent Walker, the president and chief legal officer of Alphabet, is representing the parent company of Google. Nick Clegg, the head of global affairs at Meta, is representing the social networking company. The software colossus is represented by Microsoft President Brad Smith.
The hearing, which is being chaired by Warner of Virginia and committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio of Florida, is focused on the apprehensions of legislators regarding foreign entities that are attempting to meddle in the outcome of the presidential elections in November by utilizing the most prominent technology platforms.
Alphabet and Microsoft recently released research on the activities of Iranian and Russian cyber groups in an attempt to influence or attack officials associated with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. The hackers have implemented a variety of strategies, such as spear phishing.
On September 4, the Biden administration declared that it is concentrating on Russian government-sponsored endeavors to influence U.S. public opinion.
Attorney General Merrick Garland declared in a statement at the time that “we will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia, Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor” who attempted to “interfere in elections and undermine our members “.
X’s absence from the Wednesday hearing is the result of a series of divisive posts by Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, on the app, which was previously known as Twitter, and which he acquired in 2022. Musk has roughly 200 million followers who are enumerated on his platform.
After a second apparent assassination attempt against Republican former President Trump on Sunday, Musk shared and subsequently deleted a post in which he inquired as to why “no one” was making assassination threats against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. While in office, both Biden and Harris have received assassination threats.
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Musk has previously shared content on X that was created by the Social Design Agency, which led a propaganda campaign at the Kremlin’s direction, as reported by European news agencies this week.
Musk posted a fraudulent narrative on X on Wednesday, alleging that explosives were discovered in a vehicle near a planned Trump rally in Long Island, New York. A civilian who was in close proximity to the rally’s location had inaccurately reported the discovery of explosives, according to a statement from Nassau County police.
Wednesday afternoon, Warner expressed his disappointment that no one from X attended the meeting during its initial phases. He stated that the organization was a “collaborator” before Musk’s acquisition.
According to Warner, “They are absent under X, and some of the most egregious activity has occurred” on the platform.
Source : CNBC News
