Elon Musk was once again on Twitter early Friday to troll Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), as the feud between the richest man in the world and the progressive politician continues to simmer after Musk acquired the social media giant.
Musk criticized Ocasio-Cortez in a series of tweets on Friday, responding to a meme suggesting that the legislator had unintentionally forced Musk to take over Twitter and responding to a video of Ocasio-Cortez accusing Musk of limiting his Twitter account. To say It was a blatant abuse of power”.
Musk, who officially took over Twitter last Thursday and vowed to rid the site of its “leftist bias,” and Ocasio-Cortez have historically disagreed, but their acrimony has escalated in recent days into a series of viral exchanges.
“I’m calling a billionaire who is seriously trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech is actually an $ 8 per month subscription plan,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday, counting more than 700,000 likes. In reference to Musk’s idea of ​​paying users a fee for a verification badge
Yo @elonmusk while I have your attention, why should people pay $8 just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like?
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022
This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday. What’s good? Doesn’t seem very free speechy to me 🤔 pic.twitter.com/e3hcZ7T9up
Musk replied, “We appreciate your feedback, now pay $ 8,” garnering a million likes, posting a screenshot of a $ 58 sweatshirt for sale on the politician’s website on Wednesday, turning the price around.
Ocasio-Cortez returned fire, saying he supports his staff and calling Musk a “union buster with an ego problem who accepts the rest to underpay and mistreat people.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s dig into how Musk treats employees comes at a particularly pertinent time as Twitter staff prepare for mass layoffs at the company on Friday. On Thursday night, Twitter workers filed a class action lawsuit against the company, claiming the company violated state and federal laws by not providing sufficient notice before the layoffs.
A Democratic Socialist, Ocasio-Cortez, criticized the accumulation of enormous individual wealth, saying in 2020: “Nobody earns a billion dollars, you get a billion dollars.” Musk is worth $ 200.7 billion, according to our calculations, $ 43 billion more than the next richest person. Musk identifies as an independent politician but has become increasingly tied to the right, declaring in August that he supports “the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party.”
“Stop flirting with me. I’m so shy,” Musk wrote in an April tweet, responding to Ocasio-Cortez’s subtweet of a “billionaire with an ego problem.”
