Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) doubled down on his threat against Elon Musk days after the Twitter chief mocked him on the platform.
As Townhall previously reported, Markey gave a Washington Post reporter the green light to impersonate him on the platform to highlight the company's problems with its new premium service that allows those paying $8 per month to get a blue check mark, among other features. After sending the billionaire an angry letter demanding answers, Musk followed up with a couple of jabs.
Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
And why does your pp have a mask!?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
That didn’t sit well with the senator, who responded with a threat.
One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. 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. https://t.co/lE178gPRoM
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 13, 2022
He's now doubling down. In an interview with MSNBC, Markey said "guardrails" have to be put up at the social media company and if they're not, Twitter "will pay a price..."
.@SenMarkey threatens @elonmusk: "You cannot ignore what the federal government is requiring of your company, and that goes for ... guardrails that have to be built around social media ... They will pay a price if they don't put safeguards in place at Twitter" pic.twitter.com/HkQLNmN01Q
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 16, 2022
As critics pointed out, it's Markey and Democrat lawmakers like him that are the problem.
Markey set up a hoax on Twitter because he doesn't like @elonmusk's politics, specifically his desire to foster free speech, & he's now threatening him with government regulatory power over an issue he admittedly created himself as an excuse to target him. He is the danger https://t.co/r8Fn9d43fC
— Sean Fitzgerald (Actual Justice Warrior) (@IamSean90) November 17, 2022