Lea Feiger: I absolutely hear that. Obviously, this is a different environment, right? We have experienced a fracturing of media and social platforms that we have never seen before.
Stacey Abrams: Absolutely.
Lea Feiger: In many ways, to me, it seems like the tech platforms have abdicated their responsibility in this election cycle.
Stacey Abrams: Yes, absolutely.
Lea Feiger: Elon Musk doesn’t just own X. In fact, he’s been using it to spread election conspiracies and allowing other top influencers to do the same. How is the Harris campaign approaching this and what do you think of the role Musk has played in these elections?
Stacey Abrams: So on the podcast I called Assembly Required, we had Esosa Osa to talk about misinformation. The reason this is important is that it’s not just about Elon Musk. The thing is that Meta and other platforms have weakened their filters. So, Elon Musk has aggressively and intentionally been a misinformation factory.
Lea Feiger: Machine, really incredible to see.
Stacey Abrams: It is becoming its own industry of life. Therefore, it deserves its own specific place in ignominy.
Lea Feiger: Fair.
Stacey Abrams: Let’s put it that way. We should be angry. We should be concerned, but we should also be aware that while he is the loudest version of this terrible dark star, he is not alone. So to your point, our obligation is to hold all of these technology platforms accountable. He should not be allowed to weaken the protection he owes to the people. If you are going to present yourself as a provider of information, you are obligated to make sure that information meets at least the basic sniff test. Unfortunately, we have seen multiple technology platforms abdicate that responsibility. So while I’m more than happy to particularly punish and hold Elon Musk accountable for taking what’s terrible and making it worse, we also have a responsibility on the other side of this election to evaluate everyone who was willing to accept this Wild West situation, and make it worse.
Lea Feiger: I mean, absolutely. Yesterday we published a great article about how militias are organized on Facebook, and you know what? In reality, Facebook automatically generates pages for militias. It’s complicated to say the least. Obviously, with the Musk thing, it comes with the benefit of just a ton of cash. It’s also been crazy watching their cash for the registration giveaway. There’s a lot going on there and I constantly ask myself, “Is the Harris campaign doing enough to counter it, and can they do it?”