EU parliament invites Musk to testify

20 Dec 2022 • 10:30 AM MYT
The Vibes
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BRUSSELS – The head of the European Parliament has invited Elon Musk to testify before the legislature, her spokesman said yesterday.

Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola sent a letter to the multi-billionaire with the invitation to appear.

The Parliament has no power to compel Musk to turn up, and his response was not immediately known.

Musk, the boss of electric car company Tesla, has sparked upheaval and controversy since taking over Twitter in October for US$44 billion (RM196.9 billion).

After sacking half of the company’s staff, reinstating former United States president Donald Trump’s account, dropping a policy against Covid-19 misinformation, banning – then reinstating – some journalists, and briefly blocking references on Twitter to rival platforms, he has attracted scrutiny from policymakers in both the US and Europe.

The European Commission has warned Musk that he risks European Union “sanctions” over the threat to media freedom.

Yesterday, Musk held a Twitter poll asking whether he should stay on as the chief executive of the online company. A total of 57.5% of users said ‘Yes’ he should go.

Twitter’s share price has plunged by a third since he took over the platform. Advertisers have stepped back from Twitter over the turmoil. – AFP, December 20, 2022