Musk Mocks WaPo Op-Ed Over Twitter Stake

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had some fun at the expense of The Washington Post in a response to an op-ed condemning his growing influence with Twitter, reports Fox Digital News.

Musk shocked the world last week when it was revealed he purchased 9.2% stake in Twitter, Inc., making him the largest shareholder in the social media giant. He then made even more headlines when it was originally announced that he was joining Twitter's board of directors, suggesting he could have significant influence over Twitter's policies in favor of free speech principles. 

The Post published a piece on Friday titled, "Elon Musk’s vision of ‘free speech’ will be bad for Twitter." In it, tech investor and former Reddit CEO Ellen K. Pao bashed the billionaire's bought-in "welcome" to Twitter, calling it "highly disconcerting — a slap in the face, even."

"Musk has been open about his preference that Twitter do less to restrict speech that many see as hateful, abusive or dangerous. Given his new influence, the way he himself has used the platform bodes ill for its future," Pao wrote. "Musk, who has nearly 81 million followers, often punches down in his tweets, displaying very little empathy."

Pao mocked the tech mogul for calling himself a "free-speech absolutist," writing, "like many ‘free speech’ advocates, he willfully ignores that private companies are free to establish some limits on their platforms."

The irony of The Washington Post publishing Pao's remark calling for "regulation of social media platforms to prevent rich people from controlling our channels of communication" was not lost among critics, who pointed out that the paper is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.