As Twitter CEO Elon Musk continues to affirm his vision of cultivating a social media platform where users from across the ideological spectrum will have a voice, he recently touted a visit to Capitol Hill aimed at collecting input from both sides of the political aisle.
He tweeted on Thursday that he met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) “to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.”
The news elicited support from many Twitter users, particularly among those on the right who believe the site was biased against conservatism under its leadership prior to Musk’s acquisition last year. Of course, some users did not think Musk’s political outreach efforts went far enough.
What about Libertarian Party?
How about removing political party affiliation designations in Congress?? No mention of them in the Constitution.
— joe hannoush (@joehannoush) January 26, 2023
It was not immediately clear how robust his conversations with McCarthy and Jeffries actually were.
For his part, the California Republican only confirmed that Musk “came to wish me a happy birthday,” adding: “We’ve been friends for years.”
As for the meeting with the Democratic leader, it appears that the conversation stemmed from a chance encounter in the Capitol building. Reports indicate that the two men did discuss Twitter, but the entire interaction was described as brief.
The company has been the subject of numerous discussions among lawmakers in recent weeks as Musk continues to release internal documents detailing the intrusion of government entities in the decisions that Twitter officials made prior to his purchase of the platform.
Last month, McCarthy railed against evidence that the FBI exerted pressure on Twitter to limit the spread of reports about Hunter Biden’s laptop prior to the 2020 presidential election.
“Why are they able to do this?” he asked. “Working together, using private businesses to go after individuals right before an election, denying the American public the truth?”
Although Musk has made an effort to remove partisan biases from Twitter’s algorithms and content moderation protocols, he has occasionally offered some insight into his personal political beliefs.
In May, he tweeted: “In the past, I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.”
