Rep. Ro Khanna Urges Democrats To Stay On Elon Musk’s Platform Amid X Exodus | EUROtoday

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) mentioned he has no plans to go away X, previously Twitter, even because the rightward flip the social media platform has taken underneath the possession of billionaire Elon Musk has prompted many customers to flock to rival websites.

On a Thursday episode of Politico’s “Power Play” podcast, Khanna mentioned he makes use of X repeatedly, citing his personal conversations with Musk on the platform for instance.

“I don’t think that the answer for progressives is to disengage,” Khanna mentioned. “The idea is that in a marketplace of ideas, over the long term, the truth emerges.”

Still, Khanna acknowledged that moneyed pursuits have distorted the general public sphere and led to the creation of “digital spaces that aren’t equal for everyone to participate.”

“What we ought to be focused on is, how do we create more town hall-like places for conversation online?” he mentioned.

Khanna doesn’t appear to share the view that X has turn into an echo chamber of the political proper, saying that he would wish to see information to help that assertion.

“Everything he has said publicly is [that] he believes in free and open speech,” Khanna mentioned of Musk. “And we need to have more platforms. I don’t think X should be the only platform.”

But Khanna mentioned X ought to undoubtedly be among the many areas that Democrats use to get their message out.

“You want to engage in it just like you want to go on Fox News and you want to go on progressive programs,” Khanna mentioned.

Following Donald Trump’s victory within the 2024 election, Musk, a prime donor and surrogate for his marketing campaign, has maintained a detailed relationship with the president-elect. Musk, together with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, has additionally been tapped to steer a so-called Department of Government Efficiency with the purpose of slashing authorities budgets.

For a lot of those that oppose Trump’s views and are uncomfortable with the evolution of Musk right into a vocal right-wing character, in addition to the prevalence of misinformation and conspiracy theories on his platform, staying on X has turn into untenable.

One of the platforms that has benefited from the X exodus is Bluesky, which has mentioned it lately surpassed 20 million customers.

Still, Khanna informed Politico that he could be keen to work with Musk on areas the place they will discover frequent floor, together with on addressing the “loaded” Pentagon funds.

“If he can help make our Defense Department more efficient and open and transparent, that would be a tremendous achievement,” Khanna mentioned.