MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday he hoped Elon Musk would “clean up” Twitter following his purchase of the social media platform, urging him to get rid of “manipulation” and ensure there was no censorship.
Lopez Obrador, a leftist who spoke out against Twitter after it suspended former U.S. President Donald Trump, has encouraged the use of what he calls the “blessed social networks” as an alternative to established print and broadcast media.
“Hopefully he will clean it up,” Lopez Obrador told a regular government news conference, urging Musk to put a stop to what he called “corruption”, “manipulation”, bots and “the buying of advertising without transparency” on Twitter.
“And that there’s no censorship,” the president added. “So that there are alternative media and we can all communicate.”
Addressing Mexico from 7 a.m. at a daily news conference, Lopez Obrador has pilloried critical media, arguing they are in cahoots with a corrupt elite bent on thwarting his plans to curb inequality and strengthen state control of natural resources.
Shortly before his comments about Twitter, the president renewed his criticism of one prominent Mexican journalist, publishing images of a luxury flat that he said belonged to him.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
