On Sunday (October 30, 2022), Elon Musk tweeted and then removed a link to a piece that promoted an untrue conspiracy theory on the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The post from Musk, who is now the owner of Twitter, sparked questions about the kind of information that will be permitted on the platform now that he is in charge of it.
In a now-deleted tweet in response to Hillary Clinton, Elon Musk stated: "There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye." The tweet included a link to a report from the right-wing website Santa Monica Observer, which, according to an archived version of the story, has promoted an anti-LGBT conspiracy theory regarding the attack, CBS News reported.
According to The Associated Press, the source has previously made bogus statements, such that Clinton herself passed away on September 11 and has since been replaced by a lookalike.
Read more: Lay-off at Twitter: Elon Musk seeks list of staff according to report
Musk removed the tweet on Sunday (October 30, 2022) immediately after it was posted.
The 42-year-old David Wayne DePape is suspected of hitting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer on Friday inside the Pelosi family's San Francisco home, according to a tweet from the former secretary of state.
Clinton tweeted: "The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow."
Musk's deleted tweet was posted days after the Tesla CEO acquired the social media platform for $44 billion and assumed official control of it.
Read more: Musk takes over Twitter: Users testing chaos, misinformation policies
Musk tweeted on Friday (October 28, 2022) that Twitter will be creating a "content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints" amid ongoing speculation over the kind of content that would be permitted on the platform and whether previously banned accounts would be allowed back in.