Democrat Senator Ed Markey caused a tailspin on social media Friday after he went on Twitter to blame Elon Musk for an impersonation of him created by a reporter from The Washington Post.
As the reporter acknowledged himself, the impersonation in question was done with the senator’s permission.
“…I did my test again with the permission of a U.S. senator, Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.),” wrote The Washington Post’s Geoffrey A. Fowler.
Markey used this planned impersonation to express his outrage to Musk on Twitter.
“I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation,” he wrote in his post. “Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”
A @washingtonpost reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating me—I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation. Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again. pic.twitter.com/R4r7p6mduP
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 11, 2022
Markey additionally threatened Musk by saying that should he not “fix” Twitter to his liking that Congress will do it for him.
“One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree,” Markey ranted. “Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”
A @washingtonpost reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating me—I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation. Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again. pic.twitter.com/R4r7p6mduP
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 11, 2022
Sen. Markey is not the first elected Democrat to launch public attacks on the Tesla CEO. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized Musk for his plan to charge $8 a month for certain Twitter features, writing, “Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that “free speech” is actually a $8/mo subscription plan.”
“Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8,” Musk quipped in response.
Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
The New York congressional representative additionally accused Musk of messing with her account without evidence.
There has been some speculation about the coordination between the aforementioned Sen. Markey and the Washington Post reporter. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton referred to the matter as “a media and gov’t corruption scandal.”
So @JeffBezos's @WashingtonPost (Bezos is a business competitor of @ElonMusk) worked with a leftist Senator (@EdMarkey) to create a fake @Twitter account for the "Senator" in order to generate a government investigation of the company? A media and gov't corruption scandal.
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) November 14, 2022
