Elon Musk paved the way for shareholders to exercise their voices: Ramaswamy
'Nation of Victims' author Vivek Ramaswamy argues shareholders will be the driving force to reform censorship practices in tech companies and social media platforms.
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald called out an NBC reporter on Tuesday over their freakout about Elon Musk potentially buying Twitter.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that he intends to pursue his original deal to purchase Twitter, which caused NBC News "disinformation" and "extremism" reporter Ben Collins to panic. He warned that if Musk "gets full control" of Twitter, "it could actually affect midterms" and there would be "no immediate replacement."
However, independent journalist Glenn Greenwald turned the tables and slammed Collins and his colleagues in the mainstream media for "capriciously" promoting "lies and disinformation" whenever they want.
"This person bizarrely doesn't realize he is an employee of one of the largest media corporations in the world -- the Comcast Corp., with NBC News as one of its units -- and they, too, ‘capriciously’ promote whatever lies and disinformation they want with ‘no real guardrails,’" Greenwald wrote.
Employees at tables inside Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 17, 2022.. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
TWITTER SAYS IT PLANS TO CLOSE DEAL WITH ELON MUSK
Greenwald slammed news outlets by sharing video coverage from them that aired debunked stories like Russia paying bounties for U.S. soldiers, or Putin controlling Trump through blackmail.
"Then we have Collins' corporate masters, NBC News, owned by the Comcast Corp., spreading the complete lie that Russia paid ‘bounties’ for the heads of US soldiers in Afghanistan and that Trump did nothing about it because he's captive to the Kremlin," Greenwald tweeted along with a video.
He followed with another video that showed "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough spouting a conspiracy theory about former President Trump.
"And here we have Collins' corporate colleague, Joe Scarborough, joining with Nancy Pelosi to spread the absolutely [bats**t] insane conspiracy theory that Putin controlled Trump through blackmail: even as Trump armed Ukraine and waged war on Nord Stream 2," Greenwald tweeted.
Former President Donald J. Trump at a rally on May 28, 2022, in Casper, Wyoming. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)
After the news that the Tesla CEO was likely to acquire Twitter, Collins wrote a Twitter thread warning how the platform will "dramatically" change.
"For those of you asking: Yes, I do think this site can and will change pretty dramatically if Musk gets full control over it. No, there is no immediate replacement. If it gets done early enough, based on the people he's aligned with, yes, it could actually affect midterms, he wrote. "If Musk is really taking this site private, there are no real guardrails anymore. Rulemaking can be capricious. He can elevate any idea or person he wants through recommendations and UX choices and there will be no oversight on this as a private company."
Greenwald responded to Collins' tweets, saying the NBC reporter is worried people can point out when the mainstream media "lies."
"People like Collins aren't worried Musk can ‘capriciously’ promote what he wants ‘with no guardrails.’ They're only worried when this allows people to freely point out their lies," he tweeted. "This is why employees of the largest media corporations (eg Collins, @BrandyZadrozny, @TaylorLorenz, etc.) are the most vocal and devoted advocates for censorship, why they neurotically whine if people can have ‘unfettered’ conversations. That threatens their employers' control."
Substack journalist and Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald. (AP)
Greenwald also shared a thread from senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute Chris Rufo, who has popularized the battle against "critical race theory" in schools and businesses.
Rufo responded to Collins, suggesting it was a case where, "NBC News reporter accidentally admits that Twitter has been suppressing, manipulating, and distorting the public debate in order to benefit the political Left."
Greenwald warned about the implications of journalists and big tech allying to quash dissidents before.
In September, he warned, "The regime of censorship being imposed on the internet – by a consortium of DC Dems, billionaire-funded ‘disinformation experts,’ the US Security State, and liberal employees of media corporations – is dangerously intensifying in ways I believe are not adequately understood."