Sen. Klobuchar calls for stricter content moderation on social media, doesn’t trust Musk with Twitter

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said in an interview this weekend that social media platforms need to beef up their content moderation, and said she doesn’t trust new Twitter CEO Elon Musk to run the platform in a way that quells misinformation.

Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Klobuchar expressed her concern that Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” would run Twitter in a way that discouraged the spread of dangerous misinformation. 

“Elon Musk has said now that he’s going to start a content-moderation board. That was one good sign. But I continue to be concerned about that. I just don’t think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff that’s a bunch of lies.”

Musk officially took over Twitter as its new CEO on Thursday last week, and the following day fired three top executives at the company.

He has said he plans to create a council within the company to handle content moderation and has indicated no major decisions on content moderation will be made before that council meets.

Klobuchar also spoke to Meet the Press about the overall issue of misinformation and the role of social media platforms to discourage the spread of dangerous falsehoods.

The senator also pointed out that television and print news organizations have strict rules around fact-checking, while social media platforms are not held to the same standard.

“That is not a requirement of these companies. And we have to change the requirements on these companies,” she said. “They are making money off of us. They are making money off of this violence. I think that it’s one thing if someone is posting stuff on the internet, it is another when they’re making money amplifying it.”