Are Clinton and Obama staffers leading anti-Elon Musk campaign? Report blows lid on 'dark money'

"Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter will further toxify our information ecosystem and be a direct threat to public safety, especially among those already most vulnerable and marginalized," they wrote in a public letter, warning that companies advertising on Twitter risk "association with a platform amplifying hate, extremism, health misinformation, and conspiracy theorists." The letter continued, "Under Musk's management, Twitter risks becoming a cesspool of misinformation, with your brand attached, polluting our information ecosystem in a time where trust in institutions and news media is already at an all-time low. Your ad dollars can either fund Musk's vanity project or hold him to account." The authors added, "We call on you to demand Musk uphold these basic standards of community trust and safety, and to pull your advertising spending from Twitter if they are not."

"Who funds these organizations that want to control your access to information? Let's investigate …" Musk tweeted in response to the letter, adding in another tweet, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the letter signed by the 26 groups was sent on letterheads bearing the logos of Accountable Tech, Media Matters for America, and Ultraviolet.

Accountable Tech

Accountable Tech is a Washington, DC-based organization spearheaded by political campaigner Nicole Gill, who organized the 2017 Tax March, and Jesse Lehrich, the nephew of Obama adviser David Axelrod and a former foreign policy spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. "Social media giants are eroding our consensus reality and pushing democracy to the brink," their website states. "Accountable Tech is fighting back." The group, which was founded in May 2020, is reportedly registered as a 501(c)(4) -- which means it is not required to disclose its donor list.

Media Matters for America

Media Matters for America was founded in May 2004 by David Brock, a conservative-turned-liberal journalist who was described by Politico as the "Democrats' attack dog" in 2017. "The Clinton enforcer, who raised tens of millions of dollars and created a far-reaching web of outside groups to push her presidential candidacy, is now training his sights on Trump," the outlet reported at the time. "Brock is rallying Democratic megadonors behind his cause and while he can be controversial at times, few bet against his efforts. His tentacles are far-reaching, including his media monitoring nonprofit Media Matters and the opposition research super PAC American Bridge."

That said, according to the Media Matters for America website, the group is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."  It was founded with about $2 million in donations from prominent liberal figures, including Susie Tompkins Buell, 78, who co-founded clothing brands Esprit and The North Face, private equity investor Leo Hindery, 74, who specializes in media, and famed LGBT activist James Hormel, who died in August 2021, aged 88. According to Influence Watch, Media Matters is currently bankrolled by a coalition of donors including the National Education Association, grants from the Open Society Foundation, and several Jewish groups such as the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and Community Foundation of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego.

UltraViolet

UltraViolet bills itself as a women's advocacy group that was founded in 2012. "UltraViolet is a powerful and rapidly growing community of people mobilized to fight sexism and create a more inclusive world that accurately represents all women, from politics and government to media and pop culture," their website states. "We founded UltraViolet on the principle that with a combination of organizing, technology, creative campaigning, and people power, we can win. Ultraviolet leads creative, breakthrough campaigns that have won victories from politics to culture." According to the Daily Mail, the group is backed by several unions including the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and the American Federation of Teachers.

It's worth noting that Musk is a vocal critic of unions and has been banished from White House electric vehicle manufacturing events because his workforce at Tesla is not unionized. That said, Ultraviolet is funded by several family foundations, including one founded by Warren Buffet's son Peter, NoVo Foundation, which helps marginalized and oppressed groups in society, and Libra, which is one of the many Pritzker family foundations. Billionaires Nicholas Pritzker and his wife Susan, who belong to one of America's wealthiest families, founded the Libra Foundation in 2002 to support "frontline organizations building a world where communities of color thrive."