Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee has argued that Elon Musk should be “indicted” and his free speech restricted because of his strategic defense work with the government.
Speaking on MSNBC's “The Last Word,” Elevation Partners' McNamee said the chief executives of Tesla and SpaceX are “undermining” the federal government with which they do business by expressing their views on the X platform.
“Here's a guy who runs very strategic defense and aerospace projects for the federal government, actively undermining the government that's paying him. And there's a legal case in there that should be prosecuted,” McNamee said on Saturday's show.
McNamee is Report from hate speech watchdog The verdict found Musk guilty of spreading “false or misleading claims about the U.S. elections” through his X posts, which garnered “approximately 1.2 billion views.”
McNamee argued that Musk's free speech should be restricted because SpaceX holds government defense contracts.
SpaceX is the U.S. government's primary partner for launching military satellites. The Wall Street Journal In February, SpaceX revealed that it had signed a huge, confidential contract with the United States for 2021 worth $1.8 billion.
“The key element to think about Elon Musk is that, like any other American, he is entitled to his opinion and he is entitled to express his opinion,” McNamee said.
“But that right is not unlimited. Because his companies, specifically Starlink and SpaceX, are government contractors, he is subject to special restrictions that do not apply to private citizens, and therefore he has an obligation to the government to refrain from saying anything in the interest of national security, as any private citizen should, and so should he,” he concluded.
Musk filed a lawsuit last year against hate speech watchdog the Digital Hate Countermeasures Center, calling the report's claims “misleading.” The group claims the nonprofit's “scare campaign” has driven advertisers away and cost social media platforms millions of dollars.
A US judge dismissed Musk's lawsuit, saying it was “clear” that Musk's Mr X sued CCDH because he didn't like CCDH's criticisms and believed the research would tarnish Mr X's image and alienate advertisers.
In a recent appearance on CNN, the watchdog's CEO, Imran Ahmed, defended his company's report.
“The truth is [Musk’s] “He was looking around for a reason to blame us for his failure as CEO, because we all know that when he took over as CEO, he gave the bat signal to racists, misogynists, homophobes and anti-Semites and declared that Twitter was now a platform for free speech. He welcomed them.” Ahmed told CNN: last year.
Former President Trump announced last week that he would appoint Musk to be chairman of the Government Efficiency Commission if elected in November.
“I will establish a Commission on Government Efficiency tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” Trump said at the Economic Club of New York last Thursday.
“If I have the opportunity, I want to serve America,” Musk said. I wrote to X In response: “I don't need a salary, a title, or recognition.”
