On Thursday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) posted claims to Twitter about rising hate speech on the social media platform. Elon Musk, along with many Twitter users, immediately shut down the baseless claims.

Schiff posted a tweet claiming that hate speech has skyrocketed on Twitter since Elon Musk took over the company. He wrote the following statistics (without any source citations):

  • Slurs against Black people have tripled

  • Slurs against women are up 33%

  • Slurs against Jewish people are up 61%

  • And slurs against gay men are up 58%

He then stated that he and Democratic Rep. Mark Takano are “demanding action.”

Musk replied to Schiff’s statistics, saying, “False, hate speech impressions are actually down by 1/3 for Twitter now vs prior to acquisition”

Many other Twitter users went after Schiff’s baseless tweet.

Conservative political commentator and journalist Ian Miles Cheong replied, saying, “Citation needed, and no, some random activist organization doesn’t count. If you want to come at [Elon Musk] you best not miss. It’s also not Congress’ job to police what people say on social media, especially with its dismal track record of letting real issues go unaddressed.”

 

Right-wing author Buzz Patterson also chimed in, bringing up Schiff’s role in the Trump-Russia collusion claims.

Patterson said, “You can’t build a career on making s*** up. Or, maybe YOU can. Have your intern throw in some citations next time. He/She will find them in the file next to your impeachable accusations of Trump/Russia collusion.”

Schiff couldn’t just accept defeat, though, and he decided to double down even after being torn apart by Twitter. The most ridiculous part of his “comeback” was that he had the audacity to tell Musk to back his claims with “real evidence,” after he was just destroyed for his own lack of evidence.

He tweeted, “Hey Elon, under your leadership neo-Nazis, homophobes, and racists are flocking to Twitter. And spewing hate speech.” Again, Schiff included no citation or evidence to back up his claims.

“Your denial would be more credible if it was backed up by any real evidence,” Schiff added. “And if it wasn’t followed by a bunch of antisemitic QAnon tweets attacking me.”

Somehow, Schiff thinks that by asking for the source of his statistics, people are being “antisemitic.” He is employing the typical Liberal defense strategy of throwing hot-button words and name-calling into his statements to disguise the absolute nonsense he is saying.

He likely – and probably correctly – assumes his supporters will read his tweet and believe him without even thinking to look into the matter themselves.

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