It’s time to play a little catch-up on how the Media Research Center is turning a blind eye to Elon Musk’s election interference, though it has spent years hurling the accusation against “Big Tech” for doing many of the same things. Donald Perkins — who was doing a two-month stint as a blogger — parroted the free-speech-savior narrative in a Sept. 13 post:
X owner Elon Musk highlighted the importance of preserving free speech globally explaining how individuals can be “imprisoned or killed” if they speak out against their respective countries’ ruling authority.
Musk sounded the alarm during a special Sept. 10 interview with All-In podcast hosts Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg. “They spoke about free speech, with Musk cautioning, “There is like, this weird movement to quell free speech, kind of around the world, and this is something we should be very concerned about.”
Citing the Framers and free speech, Musk continued, “You have to ask yourself, why was the First Amendment, like, a high priority? It’s because people came from countries where if you spoke freely, you’d be imprisoned or killed—and they’re like, ‘Well, we’d like to not have that here because that was horrible.’”
Unmentioned was the fact that Musk was playing censor on X and spreading election misinformation, and it’s not a violation of “free speech” to point out Musk’s lies. Perkins then whined that Musk’s X was accurately called out as a cesspool of hate:
The infamous articles by The Guardian urging the incarceration of Musk include an op-ed written by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and headlined, “Elon Musk is out of control. Here is how to reign him in.”
The other pieces were written by Guardian Reporter Carole Cadwallad (“Racism, misogyny, lies: How did X become so full of hatred? And is it ethical to keep using it?”) and Columnist Zoe Williams (“Don’t rejoice yet, Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for truth”).
Perkins made sure to censor what was behind that criticism of Musk — specifically, how hate and misinformation spread on social media platforms including X regarding a mass stabbing in Britain over the summer, resulting in riots, racist attacks, arson and looting, and how X’s model for paying posters with high engagement is essentially rewarding liars and inciters of violence. Musk clearly doesn’t care about the truth if he refuses to stop dangerous and incendiary lies on the platform he owns.
Perkins played pithy stenographer for Musk in a Sept. 19 post:
X CEO Elon Musk expressed support for Palantir Co-Founder Joe Lonsdale, who fired back at CNBC’s Squawk Box co-anchor Joe Kernen, suggesting that censorship constitutes the “greatest threat to the West.”
On Thursday, Musk shared a viral CNBC segment during which Lonsdale defended the tech mogul’s pledge to fight for free speech, captioning the post with a short yet powerful: “Exactly.” Earlier in the day, Kernen had asked Lonsdale whether Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter was worth it, to which Lonsdale replied, “If Elon hadn’t bought Twitter- if Elon hadn’t done this, the entire west would be at 10x the threat, our civilization works, Joe because we have free speech.”
Perkins didn’t mention that a lot of people face increased threats of violence and death because Musk refuses to address the problem of hate and violence on X.
Perkins kept up the Musk stenography in a Sept. 26 post:
X owner Elon Musk renewed his dire warnings about Big Tech’s approach to artificial intelligence programming.
Musk shared via X his appearance at the May 2024 Viva Technology forum, where he warmed that Big Tech platforms could prioritize “political correctness” over “truth.” On Wednesday, the tech mogul reiterated this warning, affirming that this was still a “major concern.”
Musk affirmed in the May video, “The concern I have [and this may seem like a small concern but I think it’s actually a very big issue] is that they are not maximally truth-seeking. They’re pandering to political correctness.”
[…]Musk then contrasted his X-AI and those of Big Tech: “The AIs are being trained to lie, and I think it’s very dangerous to train superintelligence to be deceptive. With X-AI, our goal is really: we want to be as truth-seeking as possible, even if it is unpopular. That is important. I think extremely important.”
Perkins was silent on the fact that Musk’s own AI engine, Grok, is decidedly less than “maximally truth-seeking.” It spread disinformation during the election, and most recently falsely claimed that British prime ministers have previously attended the inaugurations of U.S. presidents.
Perkins’ Musk stenography continued in a Sept. 27 post:
X owner Elon Musk has expressed his agreement with podcast host Joe Rogan’s scathing comments about how a potential Harris-Walz administration would trample over the First Amendment.
During the Thursday episode of the Joe Rogan Experience with guest Shawn Ryan, Rogan said he was not sure censorship would be turned around “if Kamala Harris gets into office. I think they clamp down more.” Musk, who was not a guest on the show, shared a clip of the episode via X with the concurring caption: “Joe Rogan is absolutely right.”
Perkins then insisted the so-called right to spread lies and misinformation must never be interfered with:
Rogan then expressed his concern over 2022 comments by Harris’s running mate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: “Tim Walz said that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to misinformation or hate speech. Well, it certainly does. It does.”
Rogan’s comments referred to Walz’s now-infamous 2022 interview with MSNBC host Joy Reid, where he claimed there was “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.” Walz also horrifyingly expressed his wish for a restricted First Amendment.
Perkins didn’t explain why people must be allowed to lie to and mislead people and should face no penalty for doing so.
Perkins let Musk fearmonger about Kamala Harris — whom he’s campaigning against — in an Oct. 11 post:
In an interview on the Tucker Carlson Network, X owner Elon Musk warned that one particular outcome this election cycle could spell doom for his X platform.
Musk sat down with independent commentator Tucker Carlson, and the pair discussed the upcoming 2024 election. Carlson questioned Musk about how a potential Harris/Walz administration could impact the X platform. “If she wins, how can they let X continue in its current form, in its current role in American Society?” Carlson asked. Musk responded frankly, warning, “They’ll try to prosecute the company, prosecute me. I mean, the amount of lawfare we’re seeing taking place is outrageous.”
Musk added that should Harris win the 2024 presidential election, “[Democrats] will try to shut it down, by any means possible.” He also noted, “All the X platform does is adhere to freedom of speech within the bounds of the law. And if people want to change the laws, they can change the laws.”
Musk’s reaction is unsurprising considering the recent chorus of calls for censorship against Musk by prominent Democrats and world leaders.
Perkins made no effort to fact-check anything Musk said, and he didn’t disclose that Musk had been spending millions of dollars boost Trump and defeat Harris — an undisclosed conflict of interest.