Now That Elon OwnsTwitter These Interwebs Are Becoming Entertaining Once Again!!!

them |  In an early warning sign for the future of Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk shared a homophobic conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband only two days after acquiring the social media site.

And Elon just tweeted it. pic.twitter.com/GnZkxPd4VL

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 30, 2022

Los Angeles Times story about David DePape, the man who allegedly broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi. The article detailed that DePape had shared far-right conspiracy theories on social media. However, Musk wrote there is a “tiny possibility” that there is more to the story, and shared a link to a story from a publication called the Santa Monica Observer titled “The Awful Truth: Paul Pelosi Was Drunk Again, And In a Dispute With a Male Prostitute Early Friday Morning.” The Los Angeles Times has called the Observer “notorious for publishing false news,” including claims that Hilary Clinton died and was replaced by a body double, that Donald Trump appointed Kanye West to the Interior Department, and that Bill Gates was responsible for a polio epidemic.

The Observer’s Pelosi story, of course, is no different. It insinuates that Paul Pelosi is gay and that DePape is a “Castro nudist,” which is supposedly a subculture of “really radical gay male prostitutes that parade around naked with c--k rings.” The post only attributes this information to “Twitter” and “a source.” Essentially, the Observer claims that Pelosi was not attacked, but that he was caught with DePape when the cops were summoned to the residence for a wellness check. The outlet has since updated its story with a note that says that the San Francisco Police Department confirmed that DePape and Pelosi did not know each other before the attack, and that it was indeed a break-in, but the story still remains up and is actively circulating among right-wing social media users.

Although Musk deleted the link by early Sunday afternoon, per NBC News, the tweet had accrued more than 24,000 retweets and more than 86,000 likes by Sunday morning. Ironically, the incident is the perfect example of why Musk’s laissez-faire approach to content moderation on Twitter is a terrible idea. It’s already been reported that Facebook was guilty of failing to act on similar misinformation related to the 2020 election due to a lack of adequate content moderation. Experts have suggested that Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and his seeming lack of discernment when it comes to fake news, could have a worrying impact on the upcoming midterm elections.

The billionaire’s acquisition of the platform has especially worrying repercussions for trans people, too. The SpaceX founder has previously tweeted that “pronouns suck” and said that they’re an “esthetic [sic] nightmare.” Right-wingers have widely adopted him as a deity of “free speech.” Especially considering that Twitter accounts like Libs of TikTok are eager to stoke the flames of anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, the future of the platform under Elon Musk seems to already be off to a grim start.