Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts is looking on Congress to cross new laws to rein in Big Tech corporations after Elon Musk ignored an info request. “Elon Musk could respond to my tweets but failed to respond to my letter by yesterday’s deadline and answer basic questions about Twitter verification,” Markey tweeted Saturday. “Congress must end the era of failed Big Tech self-regulation and pass laws that put user safety over the whims of billionaires.”
Musk had till November twenty fifth to reply a letter the senator despatched on November eleventh about Twitter’s paid account verification characteristic. The preliminary rollout of the brand new Twitter Blue noticed trolls use the service to impersonate celebrities, politicians and types. Markey despatched Musk an inventory of questions concerning the launch after The Washington Post created a “verified” account impersonating him. One day after Markey shared a duplicate of the letter on Twitter, Musk attacked the senator.
.@elonmusk may reply to my tweets however failed to answer my letter by yesterday’s deadline and reply fundamental questions on Twitter verification. Congress should finish the period of failed Big Tech self-regulation and cross legal guidelines that put consumer security over the whims of billionaires. https://t.co/BEn6n9EitW
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 26, 2022
“Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody,” Musk tweeted. “And why does your pp have a mask!?” he added a number of hours later, referring to Markey’s profile image, which exhibits the policymaker sporting a face protecting. The change prompted Markey to chastise the billionaire. “One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online,” the senator stated. “Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”
As of the writing of this text, Musk has but to answer Markey’s newest tweet. It’s laborious to say whether or not the senator’s name will translate to legislative motion, notably with a cut up between the House of Representatives and Senate. Musk did seem to reply no less than considered one of Markey’s questions when he introduced Twitter’s new verification system on Friday. The newest iteration of this system will characteristic handbook authentication and completely different coloured verify marks for several types of customers. “Gold verify for corporations, gray verify for presidency, blue for people (superstar or not) and all verified accounts shall be manually authenticated earlier than verify prompts,” he stated.