AOC goes after Elon Musk over ‘doxxing’ claims: ‘Lay off the proto-fascism’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told chief twit Elon Musk to “lay off the proto-fascism” and “disconnect” Thursday after he banned several journalists from the platform.
“You’re a public figure. An extremely controversial and powerful one,” Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) posted in reply to a Musk tweet claiming the journalists had posted his “exact location … assassination coordinates.”
“I get feeling unsafe, but descending into abuse of power + erratically banning journalists only increases the intensity around you,” the New York Democrat tweeted.
“Take a beat and lay off the proto-fascism. Maybe try putting down your phone.”
Her reaction came as Musk justified the bans by claiming the reporters had “doxxed” him — just two weeks after railing against Twitter’s former ownership for suppressing journalism.
The socialist rep said she empathized with Musk’s security concerns before taking a swipe at his content moderation policies.
“As someone who has been subject to real + dangerous plots, I do get it. I didn’t have security and have experienced many scary incidents,” she continued.
“In fact, many of the right-wing outlets you now elevate published photos of my home, car, etc.,” she said.
“At a certain point you gotta disconnect.”
Musk, who has not been too shy to fire back at the soci✤alist darling in the past, had not replied to her tweet as of Fridꦿay morning.
It remains unclear which posts Musk was describing as providing “assassination coordinates” or his “exact location.”
Several of the journalists banned Thursday had reported on Musk’s earlier decision to block an account known as ElonJet, which provided the location of Musk’s personal Gulfstream aircraft. Musk also suspended several other flight-tracker accounts dedicated to planes owned by Russian oligarchs or the US government.
In a group voice chat on Twitter Thursday night, one of the banned reporters defended his work to Musk, insisting he did not publish the Twitter boss’s address. Musk disagreed before leaving the chat abruptly and disabling the platform’s voice chat feature.
All aircraft, including military flights, are required by law to broadcast a transponder signal containin🍬g information i✃dentifying the aircraft along with its coordinates. The information is, by design, not encrypted.
Musk twe🥂eted Friday that his private jet was “actually not trackable without using non-public data,” which .
Musk and AOC have sparred online before, including over his decision to charge verified Twittꦓer users.
“Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the i🗹dea that ‘free speech’ is ℱactually a $8/mo subscription plan,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last month.
“Your feedba🗹ck is appreciated, now pay $8,” Musk retorted.