Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Twitter CEO Elon Musk is trying to run the company into the ground and Congress needs to step in.
Twitter reportedly suspended employee access to all office buildings effective immediately with the office set to reopen later this month. Journalist Zoe Schiffer said it’s because Musk “and his team are terrified employees are going to sabotage the company.” Since his takeover, Musk has plans to fire half of the staff. He has already begun mass layoffs since taking ownership of the company.
Musk gave employees an ultimatum Wednesday, telling them to agree to an “extremely hardcore” agenda or leave. Many employees allegedly opted to leave.
Klobuchar said Congress needs to step in.
“I have been way out front on this for a long time, and this isn’t just Twitter. This is also about all of these companies. There are no rules of the road in place. We have no federal privacy law. We have state ones,” Klobuchar said. “We have no competition policy for tech that applies to tech, something I have been trying to change. We have no rules when it comes to do they get to keep their immunity when they’re actually amplifying hate speech and misinformation and making money off of it.”
Klobuchar said there need to be rules in place for companies that allegedly amplify and profit off of spreading “hate speech and misinformation.” (RELATED: Elon Musk Reunites With Legendary Heroes ‘Sigma-Johnson’ At Twitter HQ)
“I think this should be a major focus for the Congress next year. I think we have to, as well as getting everything we can get done by the end of this year. Because nothing has happened. Yes, he seems to be, unexplainably doing everything to run this company to the ground. I don’t understand it. It is cyber employees, all kinds of things, engineers leaving, but there is more than that. That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to no rules in place.”
Several Democratic senators asked the Federal Trade Commission Thursday to investigate Twitter, arguing Musk “has taken alarming steps that have undermined the integrity and safety of the platform.”
The letter came after Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen said Tuesday there was “no basis” for an investigation into Musk’s purchase of the social media site.