The American TV host asked the new Twitter owner to remove a hashtag implying that he had died
Twitter CEO Elon Musk refused a request by US comic Jimmy Fallon to stop the spread of a hashtag suggesting that he died. Since purchasing Twitter and firing many of the platform’s content moderation staff, Musk has waded into several disputes with high-profile celebrity users.
The hashtag “#RIPJimmyFallon” began circulating on Twitter on Tuesday, with pranksters sometimes posting the message alongside images of unrelated celebrities.
Gone but not forgotten. Rest easy king 🕊🥀
Sept 19, 1974-Nov 15, 2022 #RIPJimmyFallon pic.twitter.com/3HG2HkNSV8— Eclipse Shade🍥 (@EclipseShade69) November 16, 2022
In a tweet on Tuesday night, Fallon himself asked Musk to “fix this,” referring to the hashtag. “Fix what?” Musk replied on Wednesday morning.
worth all $44 billion pic.twitter.com/rcdRDpBp4H
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 16, 2022
As Musk’s supporters jeered at Fallon, the primetime TV host deleted his tweet.
When Musk first announced his intention to purchase Twitter earlier this year, he said he was motivated by a desire to unwind some of the more restrictive censorship policies enacted by the platform in recent years. After completing the $44 billion purchase last month, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO initiated mass layoffs of content moderation and marketing staff.
Musk has also publicly fired a number of employees who criticized him on his own platform, and has engaged in arguments with celebrities and public officials. When New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed his $8 per month subscription plan earlier this month, Musk replied “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.”
Lying or posting misleading hashtags is not a breach of Twitter’s terms of service, and pranksters and trolls regularly use the site to spread false rumors. A notable example is the blaming of multiple mass shootings in the US on internet comedian Sam Hyde. Earlier this year, posts claiming that Hyde was a fictitious Ukrainian fighter ace fooled sitting US Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com