Musk is again ruffling feathers on Twitter by declaring that the platform will 'follow the science,' which will include a robust questioning of theories and data - a dig at those who blindly followed CDC and other government advice during the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Musk, who can been especially vocal on the platform since assuming control in late October, wrote: 'New Twitter policy is to follow the science, which necessarily includes reasoned questioning of the science.'
Gad Saad, a heavily-followed Evolutionary Behavior Scientist, replied to Musk's tweet in jest by posting a video of Dr. Fauci and writing: 'The science is anything that His Eminence Lord Fauci says it is.'
To which Musk responded, 'Anyone who says that questioning them is questioning science itself cannot be regarded as a scientist.'
Musk then drove his point one step further by posting a meme mocking those who 'believe anything blindly.'
On multiple occasions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci has claimed that those who criticize him and his work are 'actually criticizing science.'
During a November 2021 interview Fauci, speaking about the so-called politicization of public health, said that those who criticize the COVID response he led are 'really criticizing science, because I represent science.'
'That's dangerous,' he continued. 'To me, that's more dangerous than the slings and the arrows that get thrown at me. I'm not going to be around here forever, but science is going to be here forever.
And if you damage science, you are doing something very detrimental to society long after I leave. And that's what I worry about.'
Though many users approved of Musk's freshly stated policy, some were less thrilled and mocked and condemned Musk's position.
New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali wrote that Musk's statement was 'something a really dumb person would tweet.'
Journalist Ashton Pittman further criticized Musk's tweet, writing, 'By 'reasoned questioning,' Elon Musk means bats*** clown car conspiracy theorist drivel.'
As information about Twitter's previous ownership continues to become public, Musk recently revealed that the company's staff formerly 'had an internal Slack channel unironically called 'Fauci Fan Club.''
He also zeroed in on what he's implied may have been a chronic lack of institutional accountability surrounding Fauci and his work as a top government scientist.
'Almost no one seems to realize that the head of bioethics at NIH - the person who is supposed to make sure that Fauci behaved ethically - is his wife,' wrote Musk.
Earlier this month, Musk again raised eyebrows when he tweeted, 'My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.'
MSNBC analyst and risk intelligence CEO Laith Alkhouri wrote, 'The scientific method doesn't take place on Twitter.
'It's done by experienced scientists who conduct observations & posit questions, and go through evaluations and reevaluations - not 5G and flat earth conspiracy theorists.'
But while some doubt Twitter's ability to serve as a platform for the fruitful exchange of scientific ideas, others appreciated Musk's statement in the aftermath of years of accounts being silenced and banned for questioning the government line on COVID and a number of other health-related measures.
In response to Musk's statement that following science 'necessarily includes reasoned questioning of the science,' Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton wrote, 'Bad news for transgender extremism, covid totalitarians, and climate alarmists.'
Mathematical physicist and managing director of Thiel Capital, Eric Weinstein wrote that Musk's decision 'Changes. Everything. If true.'
'Is that a 1000% commitment to biologists that they can stop *lying* about biological sex, healthy reproductive development, 'herd immunity', genetic differences between geographically separated populations, horse paste, Wuhan Inst. GoF, etc.?' he wrote.
Joshua Stevens, a NASA Earth Cartography and Data Visualization lead wrote that Musk's policy is 'fair and reasonable.'
'And if any scientist tells you otherwise, never let them wax poetic about *curiosity and wonder* ever again.'
The mockingbird media says Twitter is not the place for scientific method, and someone should respond to him and say where is the scientific method in masks, lockdowns, PCR testing, ivermectin, HCQ, vax safety, vax result transparency.