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AMY GOODMAN: That is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We discontinue nowadays’s display camouflage with a stare upon potentially the most new files on the arena’s richest man, Elon Musk. This week, French prosecutors own requested Musk to appear for questioning following a police raid on the areas of work of Musk’s social media network X in Paris. The raid became share of an investigation into the distribution of runt one sexual abuse images. The French probe comes on the heels of two separate investigations by the U.K. and the European Union into Musk’s AI tool Grok over sexual deepfakes. Last year, the European Union fined X the identical of $140 million over hate speech and misinformation. Writing on X after the raid in Paris on Tuesday, Musk talked about, quote, “That is a political attack.”

AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this week, Elon Musk additionally provided SpaceX, his rocket and satellite tv for laptop replace, has bought his man made intelligence startup xAI. The estimated $1.25 trillion merger comes as Musk has talked about he desires to create a million solar vitality data centers in location.

Elon Musk additionally exhibits up within the newly launched Jeffrey Epstein files. In a single electronic mail, he requested Epstein, quote, “What day/evening stands out as the wildest occasion on [your] island?” unquote. He wrote that electronic mail on Christmas Day.

For more on all of this, we’re joined by a Boston College professor of world historical previous, Quinn Slobodian, creator of the impending book, with Ben Tarnoff, Muskism: A Data for the At a loss for phrases.

Let’s birth out, Professor Slobodian, with that raid on Musk’s headquarters in Paris. Discuss what came about there. And then we’ll discuss about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

QUINN SLOBODIAN: Yeah, the raid in Paris is the fruits of a one-year investigation that began in closing January over algorithm manipulation and foreign interference, and has since expanded, as you instructed, to now seven charges, starting from CSAM to sexualized deepfakes to Holocaust denial, and serene this ask algorithm manipulation. And it’s a share of a roughly a pushback that we’re seeing now in opposition to Musk that’s potentially more forceful than the rest we’ve viewed so a ways. The Spanish high minister similarly provided impending plans to ban youngsters on the social media platforms, at the side of Grok and X. And no longer talked about, but Malaysia and Indonesia truly blocked Grok within the gradual of closing year and own only no longer too lengthy within the past opened it up all over again, too.

So, this is all, I decide up, an exact most considerable backlash to the resolution, which became a replace resolution that Musk made in gradual December and early January, to abet customers on Grok to exhaust the provider to model artificially generated erotic images of strangers with out their consent. And this is one thing that became completed at the payment of, in some situations, at its peak, hundreds of instances an hour. Over 2 million images of this variety had been created. The Heart for Countering Digital Dislike estimates that about 20,000 of those had been of youngsters. So, this is clearly a crimson line that has been crossed. And especially within the European Union and previous, there may perhaps be a couple of most considerable pushback now in opposition to these roughly actions.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Effectively, Quinn, enact you search files from that there will likely be identical actions taken in other areas as came about in Paris? And the truth that the distress with X is no longer right — with out a doubt, these had been in particular egregious — the distribution of sexual deepfakes, as properly because the Holocaust denial relate material, but there’s moderately a couple of different extremely detrimental and execrable crude files that circulates on these platforms.

QUINN SLOBODIAN: Effectively, as you talked about within the intro, there already has been a most considerable fair levied in opposition to Musk in December by the European Commission referring to the utilization of the platform to lie to customers. So, the utilization of the BlueCheck verification machine, which capability roughly sources of authority that are no longer in actual fact sources of authority, are light to juice the roughly political messages that Musk himself desires to earn across, that are truly fully indistinguishable from potentially the most unsuitable political calls for of the European a ways right, most seriously the search files from for the “remigration,” quote-unquote, of nonwhite residents of Europe, is one thing that, except very no longer too lengthy within the past, became only ever heard on the intense fringes. Even a occasion fancy the Various for Germany occasion wouldn’t own light terms fancy that. And now it’s frequently propagated and circulated by Musk in ways in which, rightly ample now, even occasions of the heart, the heart-right and the heart-left across Europe feel fancy has long gone from free speech into the placement of disinformation and foreign interference. So, certainly, I enact tell that the ask liability now for the roughly actions that are produced as an final consequence of speech circulated on X has entered staunch into a novel zone of regulation for Europe in a single intention that it hasn’t prior to.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Quinn, may perhaps well also you additionally discuss about this, earlier this week, SpaceX buying xAI? It’s the ideally suited merger in historical previous —

QUINN SLOBODIAN: Yeah.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: — which may perhaps well also doubtlessly create Musk staunch into a trillionaire.

QUINN SLOBODIAN: Yeah, this is truly distinctive. The merger of xAI, which is his AI company, which is the guardian company of X.com, into SpaceX produces this $1.5 trillion-valued behemoth, the ideally suited deepest company by a ways on this planet. And the proportions internal of that company are price serious about. So, X is completely about 1% to 2% of the total cost of the Musk empire, and yet we now own a disproportionate form of quantity of attention that goes to it, due to, I decide up, it plays a disproportionately crucial function. It is the roughly mouthpiece. It’s the platform. It’s the set where Musk is able to exclaim his ideology in potentially the most unfiltered intention. And it’s the set where he does his most tantalizing to roughly create consent for, truly, what is the intense a ways-right set that he’s looking to model a novel social actuality on the premise of. So, the X memoir is a runt one internal of the mighty memoir of SpaceX.

The mighty memoir of SpaceX is one which, as of closing Friday, entails, as alluded to at the discontinue, a ask filed with the FCC to begin, quote-unquote, “up to 1 million satellites” into orbit across the Earth. To set that in context, presently, Starlink, the satellite tv for laptop share of SpaceX, has a couple of — a runt over 9,000 satellites, which is already 60% of the satellites in orbit. To enhance that up to 1 million is nothing much less than potentially the most courageous land absorb human historical previous — on this case, a land take for location, with the premise that that will then change into a layer, truly encasing the Earth, of files centers, which will likely be ready to, he hopes, catapult his, so a ways, lagging AI company previous the competitors and provide smartly-liked broadband access for the Earth residents below. So, the size of the ambitions is truly, truly breathtaking, in actual fact.

AMY GOODMAN: Quinn, prior to we drag, though, I wished to request you referring to the connections between Musk and Epstein, with French prosecutors investing[[sic]X — 

QUINN SLOBODIAN: Correct.

AMY GOODMAN: — investigating X for capacity complicity within the possession and distribution of runt one sexual abuse cloth, investigating with Europol. You additionally own this liberate of millions of pages of paperwork, with Elon Musk talked about a desire of instances. Can you discuss about that and presumably create that connection?

QUINN SLOBODIAN: Sure. Especially throughout the feud with Trump closing year, Musk made a mighty deal of hay on his maintain distance from Epstein and his maintain roughly correct condemnation of him, and light it as one intention to roughly tar his opponents and his opponents in that moment. What we all know now, in line with potentially the most new cache of paperwork, is that, removed from keeping arm’s distance, he became truly in semiregular contact with Epstein and made very optimistic plans to attain relief and talk over with him on his island to occasion, as he effect it within the emails. So, the distance that became claimed to be there became truly nothing of the variety, and he’s moderately clearly as enmeshed on this toxic Epstein network because the very folks he became criticizing.

AMY GOODMAN: Quinn Slobodian, we’re going to search the advice of with you a ways more about your book when it comes out within the following months, Muskism: A Data for the At a loss for phrases. Quinn Slobodian is professor of world historical previous at Boston College. We thank you so powerful for being with us.

On Monday, February twenty third, Democracy Now! is celebrating our thirtieth anniversary at Riverside Church in Contemporary York. Nermeen and I, as properly as Juan González, who’s flying in from Chicago, will likely be there, with, with a runt of luck, you. Guests will consist of Angela Davis, Naomi Klein, the Nobel Prize-profitable Maria Ressa, the mighty Michael Stipe and the jazz story Wynton Marsalis, Mosab Abu Toha, Hurray for the Riff Raff and so many more. That you just would be succesful to presumably also drag to democracynow.org for more files and tickets. That’s democracynow.org. I will’t wait to glance you there, Nermeen!

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Me, too!

AMY GOODMAN: And a extremely ecstatic 15th birthday to one Arthur Alcoff! I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, for one other edition of Democracy Now!