The billionaire owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has reacted to the Northern Ireland secretary of state’s request to remove fake news from the platform.
The debate occurred after Chris Heaton-Harris refuted resignation rumors after a bogus email was distributed.
Mr. Heaton-Harris referred to the bogus resignation email as “total nonsense.”
The richest man on earth said, “What does a tosh look like?”
Then, he responded to Mr. Musk on Twitter with a joke that he was referring to “and/or the content of my presentations.”
From an anonymous account – “pressreleasing16@gmail.com” – an email purporting to be from the Northern Ireland Office was sent to print titles on the Northern Ireland Office’s media distribution list.
A few hours after Mr. Heaton-Harris extended the deadline for announcing a new Stormont election, a bogus quote claimed that the Northern Ireland Secretary had quit for “personal reasons.”
Later, the NIO notified media outlets to refute the bogus email and affirmed that Mr. Heaton-Harris remained in his position.
Mr. Heaton-Harris joked on Thursday morning that he believed an email system had been hacked, stating, “I thought it was my mother.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) stated that the email was not submitted to them and that they were not conducting an investigation.
Twitter’s prospects?
Mr. Musk has committed to eliminating Twitter accounts that impersonate others.
“Twitter accounts that engage in impersonation without clearly indicating ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” he said.
After Mr. Musk’s $44bn (£38.3bn) deal to acquire Twitter in October, broader worries have been expressed about the propagation of misinformation on the network.
Mr. Musk has previously portrayed himself as an “absolutist of free speech” and has said he is willing to reinstate the bans of controversial users, including Donald Trump.
A week after acquiring the company for $44 billion (£38.7 billion), he has announced that half of Twitter’s employees will be let go.
Mr. Musk claimed he had “no choice” but to implement the layoffs because the company was losing $4 million each day. He attributes a large decline in revenue to “activist groups lobbying advertising.”
The cuts, together with Mr. Musk’s staunch defense of free speech, have sparked rumors that Twitter may reduce its content control efforts.
While the internet billionaire aspires to make Twitter a virtual “town square” where users can discuss forceful opinions, he has emphasized to advertisers that the platform’s moderation policy has not yet altered.
