The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, said a claim from Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes that former President Donald Trump had “encouraged” him to buy Twitter is “false.”
Musk replied to a story in the New York Post about the Nunes claim, writing, “This is false. I’ve had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social.”
Trump founded Truth social in October 2021 to offer what claimed would be a censorship-free platform free from content moderation, which has not been the case.
The Post story details Nunes’ remarks earlier in the day on Fox Business. Host Stuart Varney asked the former Republican Congressman about where Truth Social is left if Musk is able to turn Twitter around.
“We’re all for it,” Nunes replied, brushing off any suggestion that Truth Social’s business model may be flawed.
Nunes continued and made the claim Musk blasted as “false”:
President Trump basically, before Elon Musk bought it, actually said to go and buy it because the goal of our company is
to build a community where people are in a family-friendly, safe environment. [It’s] very much different than Twitter, and that’s why we encouraged Elon Musk to buy it because someone has to take on tech tyrants.Donald Trump wanted to make sure the American people got their voice back, and the internet was open, and that is what we are doing.
Nunes concluded, “People like Elon Musk doing what he’s doing. We are definitely in favor of it.”
Musk disputing false claims on Twitter highlights the complexities of the debate surrounding his proposed purchase of the social media giant, which he has accused of censoring free speech.