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Musk and friends are smothering the internet’s truth seekers
Targeting groups studying disinformation is bad news for democracy.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right) joins former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally at site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, on Oct 5.
PHOTO: AFP
Parmy Olson
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Not long after Hurricane Helene wrought destruction across the southern US, a more bewildering storm blew through: Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) bumped up against angry residents and armed militia in Tennessee and North Carolina, people who had been riled up by rumours that the officials were there to take their homes. Fema evacuated its teams, leaving behind communities that desperately needed help.
A cursory search of X (formerly Twitter) brought up several viral videos suggesting that Fema was bulldozing bodies under the rubble, but press reports like this one in the Washington Post were unclear about exactly where and how the rumours were spreading. They were just… spreading.
