The Federal Government Continues To Target Elon Musk

Written by Hudson Crozier

What happened: The Department of Justice is suing billionaire Elon Musk and his company SpaceX for allegedly discriminating against immigrants in hiring processes. Musk claims “SpaceX was told repeatedly” to only hire permanent U.S. residents under national security regulations. The co-founder of another space engineering company agreed, calling the lawsuit “corrupt.”

Why it matters: Musk’s relationship with the government has gotten worse since he acquired Twitter. President Joe Biden and his administration loudly opposed Musk’s free speech vision for the platform. Musk then hurt the administration politically when he released the Twitter Files, which revealed the administration’s role in the mass censorship.

• Dive deeper: Musk claims the lawsuit is retribution, “another case of weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes.” Even before his Twitter acquisition, Musk sharply criticized the leadership of Biden and other Democrats, and the White House condemned him as anti-union.

It’s political: The Biden appointee who made the decision to sue SpaceX has repeatedly advocated for social media censorship on Musk’s platform and criticized Musk’s wealth as a product of “inequality” in America.

Zoom out: Biden’s Federal Trade Commission started investigating Twitter shortly after Musk’s takeover, citing supposed data security concerns. According to sworn testimony, the FTC secretly tried to pressure a consulting firm to write a negative report about Twitter.