The UK parliament wants to summon Elon Musk to appear before a committee and provide evidence about how his social media platform, X, is run.
The plans to summon Musk, who acquired X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, were drawn up by Labour politician Dawn Butler, who is seeking to head the House of Commons’ Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee.
Musk is "someone we'd like to invite" as a witness," Butler told the Financial Times. “It is vital for the committee to formally examine the use of algorithms in pushing hateful material — and the moderation of such content — on X and other social media platforms.”
Labour MP Chi Onwurah, Butler’s rival for the chair position, is in favor of an inquiry into using algorithms by social media companies, including how they result in misinformation and profits.
In July, British officials said they faced resistance from X over requests to take down posts deemed a threat to national security during the worst riots in England in more than a decade.
Musk also taunted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on the platform during the unrest and said that "civil war is inevitable" in the UK. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Butler's statement.
Nominations for committee chairs in the Commons closed on Monday, and elections for contested positions are set for Wednesday.
MPs cannot force witnesses to turn up, but can deem them to be "in contempt" of Parliament if they snub a formal summons. The sanction is in practice only symbolic.
During a speech on Thursday in New York, former President Donald Trump said Musk has agreed to lead a government efficiency commission that he would form if he were re-elected president in November.
Tesla, Inc. TSLA, Musk’s electric vehicle company, is also part of the ongoing X/Twitter narrative.
X.com’s revenue reportedly collapsed by 84% with Musk in charge. Now Tesla bulls are worried that Musk, the carmaker’s CEO, will liquidate Tesla stock, which would bring the company’s value down (he already sold at least $7 billion in Tesla stock to fund the acquisition).
Price Action: Tesla gained 2.59% to $216.19 into Monday’s late-day trading.
Exchange-traded funds that hold Tesla shares
- T-Rex 2X Long Tesla Daily Target ETF TSLT gained 5.15%
- Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares TSLL went up 5.11%
- Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY rose 1.13%
- The Nightview Fund NITE fell 3.07%
- ARK Innovation ETF ARKK gained 2.13%
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