SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A group of demonstrators headed out to Twitter headquarters on Monday afternoon, and they brought a special delivery with them.
Protestors placed a toilet, decorated with photos of Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump, in front of Twitter HQ on Market Street in San Francisco. While they chanted “Flush Musk, dump Trump” they removed photos of Musk and President Trump and ripped them up before discarding them inside of the toilet bowl.
One of the demonstrators, Michael Petrelis, tells KRON4 that Musk’s actions since taking over the company have been worrisome. “We do not trust Musk, who is an erratic billionaire. Since he bought Twitter there’s been a rise in hate content and LGBT lies from Musk regarding the person accused of attacking Paul Pelosi,” Petrelis said.
On Sunday Musk tweeted a link to an unsubstantiated rumor in regards to the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. This tweet came just days after many spoke out against how he may handle misinformation and hate speech on the platform.
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After the tweet was posted and deleted, conspiracy theorists had already started spinning. The misinformation became so problematic by Monday morning that San Francisco Police Chief William Scott felt the need to set the record straight in an interview on CNN. “There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man, as a matter of fact the evidence indicates the exact opposite,” Scott said.
Petrelis tells KRON4 he has concerns about what could happen next on the platform, especially when it comes to politics, “If Musk allows Trump back on Twitter, democracy will be harmed,” he told KRON4.
“As a gay Twitter user, I will remain on the platform to help keep it a safe global town square,” Petrelis said.
Last week, Musk cryptically announced his takeover of the company by sauntering into Twitter HQ with a sink. Musk captioned the video posted to Twitter by saying, “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
