FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 3, 2022

CONTACT: Ashley Woolheater woolheater@openmarketsinstitute.org

WASHINGTON- Open Markets Institute reporter Luke Goldstein published a piece in Washington Monthly on Elon Musk and the future of free speech and democracy. Goldstein highlights the dangerous impact of Musk’s Starlink broadband satellites, Tesla, and Twitter ownership leading to his abuse of power and the ways the federal government can take matters into their own hands to protect people, businesses, and democracy:

“If federal regulators had done their job, we would never have gotten to the point where one fickle titan has so much unfettered power. Since 2018, for example, the Federal Communications Commission has routinely approved Musk’s requests to build a constellation of satellites with little oversight. Starlink has launched more than 2,500 satellites into orbit and has approval for 12,000, more than the total number of satellites that have ever been launched beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The sheer volume of Starlink satellites is already putting tremendous stress on the agencies charged with ensuring the safe and peaceful exploitation of space.

If that oversight weren’t lax enough, Musk has benefited from enormous federal subsidies. Overall, SpaceX has received $5.6 million in federal and state funds, a $2.89 billion contract with NASA, and a $653 million contract with the Air Force. Musk has sought similar benefits for Starlink. In 2020, under Trump, the FCC awarded Musk nearly $1 billion to provide broadband to underserved rural areas in the U.S. without reliable internet.”

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