Saturday, December 10, 2022

Twitter and Brazil, too?

 


(My new American Thinker post)

Did Twitter get involved in another election?   Maybe yes, according to Mr. Musk.  This is the story:  

Twitter owner Elon Musk said on Saturday he thought it was "possible" that personnel at the social media firm gave preference to left-wing candidates during Brazil's election this year, without providing evidence.

Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter on Oct. 27, just days before Brazil's presidential second round runoff vote, when far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was defeated by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.    

"I've seen a lot of concerning tweets about the recent Brazil election," Musk wrote on Twitter when asked by a user about elections possibly "handled" by the company's previous management.

"If those tweets are accurate, it's possible that Twitter personnel gave preference to left wing candidates," added the billionaire.

Bolsonaro earlier this year hosted Musk at a meeting in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, when he called the U.S. billionaire's takeover of Twitter a "breath of hope" and dubbed him a "legend of liberty".

We don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be shocked.

First, the left hated Brazil's sitting President Jair Bolsonaro.  He was often referred to as the Trump of Brazil, or "Tropical Trump."  We do know that Nikolas Ferreira, a Bolsonaro ally, had his account suspended for questioning the election results.   Does that sound familiar?
The Tweet "influence" story is giving many in Brazil another reason to say that the results were not legitimate.   Some are even suggesting a military coup to prevent leftist President-elect Lula da Silva from assuming office.  It won't happen but it just shows how angry some people are.

As in the U.S., the real loser is Twitter and the many journalists who pretended that their coverage was balanced.  It won't change the results in either Brazil or the U.S., but some people in the media have a little explaining to do.

Last, but not least, I quit Twitter two years ago when the New York Post story was "spiked."   I felt that Twitter was a fraud and pulled out.  In recent weeks, I opened a new account to see if the Musk version is worthwhile.  So far, I like it but time will tell.

Search This Blog