Journalist reveals abuse from Elon Musk’s troll army of ‘young, mostly white MuskBros’

ERIN Biba says she copped abuse, hate speech and even death threats for daring to criticise billionaire Elon Musk online.

A FEMALE journalist claims she was subjected to a wave of online abuse from Elon Musk’s army of “young, mostly white” fans dubbed “MuskBros” for daring to criticise the billionaire.

Erin Biba, a science writer for the BBC, Scientific American and Wired, last week hit out at the SpaceX and Tesla CEO for his attacks on the media and for calling a female molecular biologist’s research “BS”.

But after Musk responded to Biba’s criticism, his “Twitter mob” came after her, Biba wrote in a piece for The Daily Beast.

“A billionaire w/massive power @elonmusk lashed out at two of the most under-attack industries in the country: Journalism and Science. Both are essential for democracy. We should criticize our important institutions, but we shouldn’t threaten their existence w/powerful ignorance,” she said in the original tweet thread.

“In this country we deify self-made men who create empires and when they behave irresponsibly we call them ‘eccentric’ and say the good they have done for the world excuses their bad behavior.

“But instead we need to make these men look at themselves and recognize the true scope of their power and the RESPONSIBILITY TO HUMANITY that comes with it.

“Casual attacks on Journalism and Science, that are not carefully thought out, when you have a voice that reaches millions of people, are incredibly dangerous and have lasting impact. Twitter may be an informal place, but it has very, very real implications in that world at large.

“Elon Musk is an irresponsible person who doesn’t seem to realize (or care) about the damage he is doing. Our love affair with billionaires needs to end.”

To Biba’s surprise, Musk responded, “I have never attacked science. Definitely attacked misleading journalism like yours though.”

A few days later, Biba tweeted, “FEMALE JOURNALISTS: Have you been harassed by Elon Musk fans? Please DM me your most horrific tweets and messages. AND PLEASE SHARE THIS”

NEW: A powerful #oped on what it’s like when Elon Musk’s Twitter mob comes after you—from @erinbiba https://t.co/OfSwH4tvpe

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 29, 2018

.@erinbiba has done something incredibly brave. She's documented what happens when female journalists dare to question Elon Musk. https://t.co/B9H6KKFJxU

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) May 29, 2018

You’ve done something incredibly dishonest by supporting a journo who falsely stated that I’m against science, then cherrypicked tweets that don’t represent the vast majority of my followers to make false claims against them too

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2018

Elon, thanks for shining a light on this important issue of online harassment. If you’ll read the story to the end, you’ll find that this is more than one woman’s story. It’s six female journalists, all reporting similar patterns of harassment after critiquing you or your firms.

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) May 29, 2018

Hello, have you met the Internet? Everyone gets harassed regardless of gender, especially if they say false things. Saying I’m against science is like saying Beyoncé doesn’t know beats. Blowback from latter (all genders) would make my comment stream seem like Socratic dialogue.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2018

Think we figured out why she deleted her entire tweet history... As an editor can you explain why it was OK for your journalist to repeatedly publicly insult someone who would go on to be the subject of an article smearing them using guilt by association? Hardly impartial is it? pic.twitter.com/LS67lbxtHt

— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) May 29, 2018

And on it goes... pic.twitter.com/IAYzhi1NuG

— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) May 29, 2018

Worth noting that the journalist harassed by "Musk bros" had previously made jokes about Elon Musk's genitalia on Twitter. Good grief. This place. https://t.co/YZR1tle2m7

— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) May 29, 2018

This journalist has been attacking me for months incl using genitalia language that she now says is sexist. What a hypocrite! https://t.co/aXPsmLnh48

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2018

I am a big @ElonMusk /Tesla skeptic, but there is something deeply rotten about that DailyBeast article attacking him because of *rude random Twitter followers of his*, as if he's responsible for them. It's an article that shouldn't be published (or praised) on a reputable site.

— Jeff B. (@EsotericCD) May 29, 2018

People are still attacking @erinbiba for calling out Musk's fans for threatening her & other female journalists & scientists. I love Twitter for the connections it facilitates, but the abuse can be horrific. Celebs who don't speak out against such abuse are tacitly approving it. https://t.co/KE1nNJj9pd

— Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) May 29, 2018

.@erinbiba you have done a phenomenal job. Thank you for writing this. Thank you to the women who reported their experiences.

This is what's it's like (as a woman) to criticize the billionaire who must not be named. https://t.co/qazXuAKdf8

— Emily Calandrelli (@TheSpaceGal) May 29, 2018

after seeing what el*n m-sk’s followers are doing to @erinbiba (and m-sk’s damaging response), i’m afraid to tweet his name or the article. but i’m just gonna leave this here: https://t.co/ICPJEMiwlT

— jane c. hu (@jane_c_hu) May 29, 2018

She later deleted her tweet history and locked her account, before reappearing on Tuesday to tweet her article, titled “What It’s Like When Elon Musks’s Twitter Mob Comes After You”.

She shared screengrabs of the abuse she received from strangers calling her a “c**t”, “bitch” and “idiot”. She said she left out “the hate speech and death threats”.

“The aftermath of Musk’s tweet essentially proved my entire point,” she wrote. “Because before he commented on my tweet, it was floundering in relative obscurity.

“The MuskBros had a lot of opinions about me being a woman criticizing their hero. And the MAGA set were thrilled that someone with such a big following was on their side against science and journalism.”

Many female journalists and scientists agreed with Biba. “@erinbiba you have done a phenomenal job,” Bill Nye Saves the World host Emily Calandrelli tweeted.

“Thank you for writing this. Thank you to the women who reported their experiences. This is what’s it’s like (as a woman) to criticize the billionaire who must not be named.”

Scientist and writer Tara Smith wrote, “People are still attacking @erinbiba for calling out Musk’s fans for threatening her & other female journalists & scientists.

“I love Twitter for the connections it facilitates, but the abuse can be horrific. Celebs who don’t speak out against such abuse are tacitly approving it.”

The Daily Beast’s editor Noah Shachtman said Biba had “done something incredibly brave”. “She’s documented what happens when female journalists dare to question Elon Musk,” he wrote.

Musk hit back, tweeting, “You’ve done something incredibly dishonest by supporting a journo who falsely stated that I’m against science, then cherrypicked tweets that don’t represent the vast majority of my followers to make false claims against them too.”

He later added, “At risk of stating the extremely obvious, I am against threats of violence & abusive epithets in any forum. Please do not use them in my name or at all.”

But others pointed out Biba, in since deleted tweets, had often insulted Musk using crude language. “It was just the manifestation of Musk’s ego in the form of a space car,” she wrote in one tweet referring to the Falcon Heavy launch.

“Look what I really wanna say is Elon just sent his giant d**k into space and swung it around, but that might be going too far.”

Elon wrote, “This journalist has been attacking me for months incl using genitalia language that she now says is sexist. What a hypocrite!”

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