fbpx
Skip to content

Musk Reacts to Those Calling for Censorship and Moderation on Twitter: They ‘Fear Free Speech’

Musk, El American

Leer en Español

[Leer en español]

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk commented Tuesday on the negative reactions from some users and left-wing media personalities regarding his full acquisition of Twitter.

“The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all,” the new Twitter owner tweeted. “By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.”

Musk explained that the censorship he opposes is that which goes “far beyond the law” because that involves going against “the will of the people.” “If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect,” he continued.

Criticism against Elon Musk

While criticism of Musk began after he first made the offer, the left-wing media has been even more outspoken in its negative views since the full Twitter buyout was finalized.

This Monday night, for example, MSNBC host Ari Melber expressed concern that Elon Musk could use his power on Twitter to “secretly ban” certain content or “turn down the reach” of candidates, activists and political figures, and even change the outcome of a presidential election.

“If you own all of Twitter or Facebook or what have you, you don’t have to explain yourself, you don’t even have to be transparent, you could secretly ban one party’s candidate or all of its candidates, all of it nominees,” Melber said in his monologue. “Or you could just secretly turn down the reach of their stuff and turn up the reach of something else and the rest of us might not even find about it until after the election.”

Later, leftist host Joy Reid had The New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas as a guest to discuss Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and attribute some connection to racial issues.

Giridharadas, who published a column titled “Elon Musk is a Problem Masquerading as a Solution,” said Musk has “widespread on that fascist right” by agreeing that “this is a time of censorship of ideas in the right” on some social media platforms.

“Elon Musk lives in a world in which the only kind of free speech is white men feeling free to say whatever the hell they want,” Giridharadas said. “This future in which there would actually be more abundant and equitable speech terrifies the crap out of people like Elon Musk.”

Meanwhile, Nicolle Wallace, another MSNBC host, said the Twitter purchase “has sent shockwaves through much of the anti-disinformation political universe” and that, thanks to Elon Musk, allies of former President Donald Trump “will make great use” of the platform.

Wallace argued that the changes big tech platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube made to their security policies in the wake of Trump’s election fraud allegations were an attempt to address the threat posed by “misinformation.”

“We should look no further than the elation on the right and the panic on the left to see where the fine lines exist right now around misinformation,” Wallace said.

The purchase of Twitter by Tesla’s owner has provoked a stampede of progressive influencers who have rushed to abandon the platform because of the threat posed to them by a billionaire taking it over.

In addition, human rights NGOs and various left-wing platforms have expressed concern about the possibility of hate speech spreading on Twitter now that it has passed into the hands of a free speech “absolutist.”

Despite all this, Musk intends to make the platform a bastion of free speech and to achieve this, in his view, it was necessary to turn it into a private company.

Leave a Reply

Total
0
Share