North Carolina and Michigan investigating Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC after voter data complaint
The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office said Monday that it is eyeing a political action committee created by billionaire Elon Musk following a complaint to the state election board over the PAC’s collection of personal data while failing to help users register to vote as promised.
The North Carolina Board of Elections later Monday told CNBC that it has opened an investigation of Musk’s America PAC.
“North Carolina law makes it a crime for someone to fail to submit a voter’s registration form if that person has told a voter that they would be submitting the voter’s registration form,” the board’s spokesman, Patrick Gannon, told CNBC.
The new inquiries and a similar one announced Sunday by Michigan’s secretary of state’s office follow a report by CNBC that Musk’s America PAC was asking website users in battleground states for personal data — such as ZIP code, full address and a phone number — under the pretext of helping them register to vote without doing so.
In contrast, users of America PAC’s site in states that are not considered competitive in the 2024 election were directed to voter registration pages for their state. [Continue reading…]
Australian anti-nuclear campaigners have been suspended from billionaire Elon Musk’s privately-owned social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The decision has sparked fears about US-based companies limiting free speech by environmental campaigners.
The decision to permanently place the Australian Conservation Foundation’s (ACF) account in “read-only” mode was revealed to the group on Sunday via a cryptic online notification. A spokesperson for the environment non-profit group, Jane Gardner, told Yahoo News the decision to shut down its voice was “extremely worrying for democracy in Australia”.
The exact reason for the suspension remains a mystery, but it came after a number of pro-nuclear X users challenged what it claims was factual reporting of nuclear-related issues. Similar posts remain live on its Instagram account.
The suspension message read, “After careful review, we determined your account broke the X rules. Your account has been placed permanently in read-only mode, which means you can’t post, repost, or like content.”
Since taking over Twitter in 2022 Musk has advocated for free speech, and allowed dozens of right-wing commentators to return to the site. And he has expressed his support for the Republican candidate Donald Trump in the US election.
He has also been a vocal supporter of nuclear energy, saying in a 2022 post the shutting down of power plants was “insane”. “Countries should be increasing nuclear power generation,” he added. [Continue reading…]