Elon Musk has turned twitter into a raging dumpster fire days before the election

Friend, there are nearly 400 million Twitter users globally, [more than half of Twitter users]( say they get the news from the platform. This is a big problem, which just became a HUGE problem. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, just bought the social media platform for what appears to be his own personal modern day soapbox. He quickly fired the social media platform’s top executives, including the person in charge of trust and safety at the platform. [This is the problem with having billionaire backers—they come with their own agenda. Thankfully, Daily Kos's largest source of revenue comes from thousands of regular readers and activists donating just a few dollars at a time. Can you support independent and progressive news by donating $5 to Daily Kos.]( [DONATE]( Musk is a self-described “free speech absolutist” that seems to have solely taken on the role moderating content. The problem is that it turns out Musk is a [rampant a$$hole](: - At the onset of the COVID pandemic he claimed that people worried about the virus were ["dumb."]( He continued to repeat conspiracies about the [virus]( and [vaccine]( - [Compared]( Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler - Openly made anti-union [threats]( to his staff - Has used misleading tweets to commit [securities fraud]( - Numerous sexist tweets that were meant to be ["jokes"]( Within hours of the new ownership, the changes were tangible. A [study]( shows that within the first 12 hours that Musk took over the company there was a sharp spike in vulgar and hostile rhetoric. Mere days from the midterm elections, Musk has either fired most of the content moderation team or [limited](employee access to content moderation tools, allowing more misinformation and disinformation to spread across the platform. Those that have been "fact checked" tend to be those Musk disagrees with. The problem is that Musk now has a huge reach and influence over the American population. Daily Kos is one of the largest progressive news outlets in the country, but we need to be much, much bigger in order to more effectively debunk misinformation and disinformation that is spreading across the internet and threatening our democracy. [It is no longer enough for progressive, independent media like Daily Kos to survive–in order to challenge right-wing outlets, we need to grow and thrive. Can you support the work of Daily Kos by making a $5 donation?]( [DONATE]( Thanks for all you do, Amanda McKay, Daily Kos If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible. (Please note that we may be slow to process checks during the coronavirus outbreak.) Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.