Elon Musk amplified attacks on Twitter executives by right-wing activists soon after agreeing to buy the platform

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Elon Musk used his Twitter account to amplify criticism of two company executives made by right-wing activists soon after agreeing a deal to buy the platform.

Musk on Tuesday responded to a tweet by Saagar Enjeti, a conservative podcast host, who shared a Politico story about Vijaya Gadde.

Gadde is the most senior executive responsible for implementing Twitter’s user rules, and according to the report broke down in tears in a meeting discussing Musk’s takeover of the company.

“Vijaya Gadde, the top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan’s podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, is very upset about the Elon Musk takeover,” Enjeti tweeted.

Musk responded by agreeing that the decision to limit the spread of the Hunter Biden laptop story back in 2020, over concerns it may have been based on hacked material, was wrong.

“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organisation for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” he wrote.

The New York Post in November 2020 published a story claiming that material found on a laptop once belonging to President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, contained salacious material about his personal life and business dealings.

The laptop has since been authenticated by other news organizations, though at the time there were concerns about the authenticity and origin of the information. 

Later, Musk responded to a tweet by Mike Cernovich, a right-wing activist who gained notoriety for promoting the “pizzagate” conspiracy theory.

In the tweet, Cernovich accused Twitter general counsel Jim Baker of committing “fraud” when he was serving as general counsel for the FBI.

Cernovich linked to a report on Special Counsel John Durham charging a lawyer for lying to the FBI as he pushed links between Donald Trump and Russia that did not substantiate his fraud claim about Baker.

There is no evidence Baker committed fraud.

“Sounds pretty bad …” responded Musk.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider on the criticisms boosted by Musk.

Musk agreed a $44 billion deal this week buy Twitter, and in a statement announcing the takeover said that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.”

Musk has himself attracted criticism for controversial tweets criticizing measures to slow the spread of COVID, and one comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler over his response to the trucker protests.

The billionaire Tesla founder’s takeover was greeted with delight by many right-wing figures, who have long sought to portray the site’s policies to counter hate speech and disinformation as a bid to censor conservatives and limit free speech. The most prominent conservative banned from the site was former president Donald Trump, who was banned in early 2021 for stoking the Capitol riot.

But the takeover has prompted concern from critics that the site could become a haven for misinformation and harassment.