Mark Ruffalo asks Elon Musk to leave Twitter after takeover: ‘Hand over the keys to someone who will’

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Mark Ruffalo is urging Elon Musk to change his approach to running Twitter after a week of upheaval at the social media company, which has seen layoffs, advertisers pausing ad spending and fears of a new subscription plan that will take the Platform reinvented.

In a series of tweets on Saturday and another on Sunday, the “I Know This Much Is True” actor engaged directly with Musk after US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the platform of “bricking” her profile. She tweeted that she was critical of Musk’s plans to open up the site’s Twitter verification tool — the “blue tick” badge — to anyone willing to pay $8 a month for a Twitter Blue subscription.

“Elon. Please, for the sake of decency, leave Twitter, give the keys to someone who is doing this as a real job, and get on with Tesla and SpaceX.” Ruffalo said in a quote tweet of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s claim on Saturday. “You destroy your credibility. It just doesn’t look good.”

Discussions about how the platform would deal with freedom of expression issues — particularly moderating hate speech and criticism of Twitter’s new owner — have increased in the week since he officially took over the site. Since then, Musk has fired key executives and fired thousands of employees around the world just days before the 2022 midterm elections. That includes members of the human rights, accessibility, AI ethics, communications and curation teams, who tweeted about their layoffs on Friday, TechCrunch reported.

In response to Ruffalo’s tweet, Musk replied that “not everything AOC says is 💯 right.” (The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Twitter for comment.)

While Ruffalo responded with “maybe,” the actor pointed out that the platform’s recent disruptions and changes in certain features, like verification, make this more difficult to spot. “That’s why robust disinformation/misinformation filters and credible verified users are a popular feature for people and advertisers alike,” he said. “We need these safeguards to ensure the information is accurate or the app will lose credibility just like you. And people leave.”

With what is known about Musk’s proposed verification plan, Twitter Blue, anyone paying $8 a month could buy a verification badge without having to verify their identity against their account. In 2009, Tony La Russa, a former MLB player and then manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, sued Twitter for alleging that someone had registered their name and started posting offensive comments.

Last week, Pacific Rim and The Gray Man actor Rob Kazinksy raised concerns about how anyone might be able to pose as an actor – as he says someone had done before dealing with minors through the platform. (The actor, who didn’t say exactly which platform this was connected to, indicated that he had no social media at the time and that one of those children, who was allegedly contacted by someone posing as him, had gone missing. )

On Sunday, Musk also addressed the impersonation issue after several actors with verified accounts changed their profile name to his, underscoring how regular Twitter users could potentially be confused or manipulated by the platform’s upcoming verification expansion. Actors who posed as Musk to make the point were Valerie Bertinelli of Hot in Cleveland and One Day at a Time – which was trending as a result – Roswell and The Night Shift star Brendan Fehr and the comedian-actress Kathy Griffin, whose account is currently active suspended.

“Going forward, any Twitter engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” Musk tweeted.

Musk noted in his tweet thread that users had previously received identity theft warnings before their accounts were banned. He now suggests that not only is that policy no longer in effect, but that every name change is reviewed. “We used to issue a warning before suspension, but now that we are introducing widespread review, there will be no warning,” he said. “Any name change will result in a temporary loss of the verified tick.”

In Fehr’s response to the account bans early Sunday, he confirmed he had changed his name again before adding: “Don’t worry he still doesn’t have a problem with anyone tweeting lies and irresponsible conspiracies so it’s all good and take care Sense.”

Users, former employees and advertisers have raised concerns in the days leading up to the layoffs and since then about the impact the mass loss of employees would have on the platform’s usability and security. On Friday, Musk tweeted that Twitter had suffered a “massive drop in revenue,” claiming the cause was “due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though content moderation hasn’t changed and we’ve done everything we can to address the.” Appeal to activists.” (Advertising accounted for 89 percent of Twitter’s revenue last year.)

On Nov. 1, Politico reported that Mediabrands from IPG, one of the top four advertising companies, advised clients to suspend their Twitter ads. In response to a Nov. 4 tweet that suggested these companies should be “named and shamed,” Musk tweeted, “A thermonuclear name and disgrace is exactly what will happen if this continues.”

Ruffalo Musk responded on Sunday, writing: “These corporations protect their brands and customers from the misinformation and bigotry that those who fired you protected us from.” They have wiped out any way to protect us from fake accounts. It’s just smart business. Please don’t approach us with “Thermal Nuclear,” Chief Tweet.”

Updated at 4:23 p.m. Sunday 6 Nov: Added Musk’s tweet.