Tesla CEO Elon Musk had used Twitter to spread a bizarre, anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi.
 

Kiichiro Sato/Associated Press

Three days after completing a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, Elon Musk used his new platform Sunday morning to spread a bizarre, anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi in San Francisco that had been published by a fringe Southern California website.

Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla and the richest person in the world, according to Forbes, posted the tweet — which was deleted later Sunday morning after generating intense reaction online — while facing scrutiny over his plan to roll back the monitoring of content on the social media site.

He was responding to a tweet by Hillary Clinton.

The former secretary of state — apparently referring to the arrest of a suspect in the attack on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband — wrote Saturday morning, “The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories.

It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.

As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow.

” The suspect had professed conspiratorial, far-right views.

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Musk responded Sunday at 5:15 a.

m.

Pacific time with a tweet that said, “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” and posted a link to a baseless, anti-LGBTQ article in the Santa Monica Observer.

By 10:30 a.

Sunday, the message and link had been retweeted more than 30,000 times and liked more than 110,000 times, before being deleted less than an hour later.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Santa Monica Observer was “notorious for publishing false news,” and once claimed “that Hillary Clinton had died and that a body double had been sent to debate Donald Trump.

Paul Pelosi was attacked in the couple’s Pacific Heights home early Friday morning.

Authorities believe 42-year-old East Bay resident David DePape forced entry into the home looking for Nancy Pelosi, who has been a central target of far-right conspiracy theories such as the QAnon mass delusion.

DePape had filled websites with these theories along with bigoted screeds directed at people of color, women, Jewish people and others.

State Sen.

Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, said Saturday that online conspiracies were inciting people to violence, and that politicians like himself and Pelosi have become targets.

Paul Pelosi, who according to police was struck with a hammer just as officers arrived at the home, needed surgery to repair a fractured skull and injuries to his right arm and hands.

He is expected to make a full recovery.

Far-right commentators, and the article promoted by Musk, have seized on an audio recording of a San Francisco dispatcher relaying information about the intruder from Paul Pelosi, who called 911.

The dispatcher said the caller “stated that he doesn’t know who the male is but he advised that his name is David and that he is a friend.

”

The dispatcher was relaying that DePape — not Paul Pelosi — had “advised that his name is David and that he is a friend.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins held a brief news conference Sunday to “clear up distortions” that have emerged on social media in the wake of the violent attack on Paul Pelosi.

Police determined “there were only two people in the home at the time of the incident,” Jenkins said.

“ We have nothing to suggest that the two men knew each other prior to this incident.

”

On Thursday, in a message to “Twitter Advertisers,” Musk wrote that he is buying the social network to support “a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.

” He continued, “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.

”

The company has long grappled with misinformation and hate speech, and if reported layoffs occur, a reduction in staff would probably weaken the company’s ability to monitor content.

On Friday, Musk announced he would form a council to handle content questions.