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Sen. Warren says she has a ‘real problem’ with Elon Musk following Twitter takeover

"I don’t think any billionaire ought to be the one who has that kind of power."

By Ross Cristantiello

November 3, 2022

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Senator Elizabeth Warren is continuing her criticism of Elon Musk. For years, the Massachusetts senator called out the world’s richest man, and those critiques intensified with Musk’s recent purchase of Twitter. 

Speaking on “The Late Show” Wednesday, Warren told host Stephen Colbert that she is opposed to the social media platform being owned by anyone with the level of power and riches held by Musk.

“I don’t think any billionaire ought to be the one who has that kind of power, to decide how Americans, how people around the world get a chance to talk to each other,” Warren said. “I got a real problem with him.” 

The senator has long been a vocal opponent of billionaires, positioning herself as someone who pushes for strong regulations on Big Tech. 

Twitter is “most used to promulgate political idea and argument,” Colbert said, bringing up the topic of who should be making the decisions that determine what content is posted on the platform. 

Warren described how she sees the calculus at play behind those decisions. 

“Somebody is going to make the decisions about what we see on Twitter. It can be made out in the open, it can be made in public, it can be made by a commission… or it could be made by one billionaire in a very dark room based on whatever is running around in the middle of his head,” she said. 

Asked if she was “blue check verified” by Colbert, Warren responded by saying “I just don’t care.” Both her accounts are verified at the moment. 

Musk recently made headlines by announcing his plans to make blue check verifications available to those who pay a monthly subscription fee. 

This is not the first time Warren has been critical of Musk. When the deal was first announced this spring, Warren said in a Twitter post that it was “dangerous for democracy,” and that “billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else.”

Much of her criticism of Musk stems from reporting that showed he paid no federal income taxes in recent years. When Musk was named by Time magazine as the publication’s “Person of the Year” in 2021, Warren pushed on Twitter to change tax laws so that Musk “will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else. 

Warren is not the only progressive politician who has been critical of Musk recently. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter that Musk’s plan to charge for blue check verification was nothing more than a “billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan.”

“Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8,” Musk replied.