Generally, I’m far less amused by Elon Musk’s tech ramblings — be they online or in-person — than his followers, who seemingly hang on his every word.
So Fox News’ promotion of a two-part interview between Musk and its white nationalist TV host Tucker Carlson didn’t excite me. So far, things have gone as expected: The first part of the interview that aired Monday largely featured Musk rambling as a seemingly confused Carlson nods along.
But Musk, who’s portrayed as a visionary by right-wingers, and even some Silicon Valley technophiles, proved his ignorance regarding tech in ample measure.
I worry that the cult of personality around Musk covers up some dangerous flaws in his logic when it comes to technology and society. And it seems to cover up some of his potentially nefarious motives, too.
But it seems clear to me that Twitter’s majority owner is on a public relations push designed to portray himself as a trustworthy voice on tech and a faithful steward of the platform users’ data. And this push is occurring as news reports highlight the harm he can inflict in an increasingly technologized world.
So let’s discuss.
The government can read your Twitter DMs, Musk says
“The degree to which government agencies effectively had full access to everything that was going on on Twitter blew my mind,” Musk said in the interview. He replied “Yes” when asked whether the government had access to people’s private messages.
The clip has been shared in right-wing social media circles to stoke fears of government encroachment.
And Musk’s claim might sound scary if not for the fact that 1) He seems to have provided no evidence to support it and 2) We already know that government officials — including local law enforcement officials — can acquire subpoenas allowing them to read people’s private social media messages.
But the fear-mongering is revealing.
Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has pushed conspiracy theories about Twitter’s…
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