Rumman Chowdhury, a knowledge scientist, nonprofit founder, and former director of Twitter’s machine ethics group, had robust phrases for Elon Musk and the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) throughout an SXSW panel on Thursday.
“When your funding is frozen and also you don’t know when you’re gonna be fired, and there’s this, like, completely unhinged particular person saying bizarre issues on the web continuously, you continue to should do your job, proper?” Chowdhury stated. “The lights should be stored on as a result of Elon Musk is just not the one protecting the lights on, though he would really like you to suppose that.”
Musk and DOGE, which Musk is advising, have rushed to chop workers throughout U.S. federal companies, in some circumstances in ways in which compromise cybersecurity. The initiative has gutted the Shopper Monetary Safety Bureau, lowered headcount on the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration, and fired probationary staff on the Federal Aviation Administration, amongst others.
Chowdhury fears the mind drain ensuing from the dramatic reductions and chaotic administration model. She says she noticed an identical development at Twitter again in 2022, when Musk acquired the platform for $43 billion. Chowdhury was one in every of many workers let go at quick discover after Musk’s takeover.
“So some estimates say about 20% of [Twitter] had already left earlier than [Musk] even took over, after which he fired one other 30% on high of that, proper?” Chowdhury stated. “So we’re speaking an enormous chunk of the corporate being simply gone, whether or not of their very own volition or not, however I believe an important factor was that simply the looming shadow of [Musk’s] existence utterly killed the tradition of Twitter.”
Chowdhury added, “[I]t’s scary to see that occuring to the U.S. authorities, an establishment that issues considerably in each American’s life and even to folks past American borders. Twitter was an organization, sure — it was an impactful firm, however it’s not the identical as a authorities. […] [Musk] breeds chaotic environments, and chaos is just not the place good work occurs.”
Chowdhury additionally took subject with Musk’s imaginative and prescient for Twitter — now X — which she stated ties in together with his method to politics. She accused Musk of utilizing X as a propoganda software for his personal ideology — a “megaphone” to push his perspective to the world.
“Like, I don’t suppose there’s any debate or dialogue available right here,” Chowdhury stated. “I don’t suppose [former Twitter CEO] Jack Dorsey acted anyplace close to the best way Elon Musk [has] — he was not on Twitter daily together with his opinions, blocking folks, you recognize, amplifying others, calling some folks terrorists — like, Jack didn’t act that means.”
One report found that Musk shared deceptive claims concerning the 2024 U.S. presidential election that had been seen practically 1.2 billion instances on X. In posts this 12 months, Musk has repeatedly made false assertions about federal spending, Ukrainian aggression, and the role of offices just like the Federal Emergency Administration Company.
Musk has gone so far as to question X’s personal fact-checking system, Group Notes, after it corrected posts on X that claimed Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the nation’s elected president, had low approval scores amongst its residents. “Sadly, Group Notes is more and more being gamed by governments and legacy media,” Musk claimed without evidence in a post.