On March 25, 2022, Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk posted “Free speech is essential to functioning democracy.” Along with a poll asking X users “Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
More than 70 percent of the 2 million voters said “No”.
Corporate censorship, in the guise of “community guidelines” has long been a debate for free speech defenders. While these social media companies expressed they support First Amendment rights, they continue removing content, blocking users, and suspending accounts they believe have violated “community guidelines.” Thus creating a culture that stifles inquiry, debate, and expression.
When Musk took over Twitter, many expressed hope that he would correct the direction of free speech. And so he did.
In September 2022, X sued California for enacting AB 587, or the “transparency law.” Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom wants social media companies to publicly post their content moderation policies and surrender data to the government about their decision-making and enforcement.
For Twitter’s legal team, “The legislative record is crystal clear that one of the main purposes of AB 587—if not the main purpose—is to pressure social media companies to eliminate or minimize content that the government has deemed objectionable.”
These transparency laws are onerous and intrusive. Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group, also said California’s AB 587 is a major threat to companies’ First Amendment Rights.
Many advocates believe laws like these “might be weaponized by governments eager to censor or chill free speech.”
When the billionaire bought Twitter, his goal was to create a space where “a wide range of beliefs can be debated healthily.”
Before his buyout, Musk thought that the company had been overzealous in censoring speech, he compared it to “the town square of the internet.”
In the succeeding weeks, the CEO restored Donald Trump’s account and reversed account suspensions of Jordan Peterson, Andrew Tate, The Babylon Bee, and recently, Alex Jones.
It also stopped enforcement of the “Covid-19 misinformation policy” and rolled out a community notes feature that provides “context to tweets.” This move allowed users to discern things for themselves without policing their beliefs.
Musk also blasted governments who want the X to implement free speech restrictions.
“Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”
He also points to Twitter’s previous community policy on speech as the reason why “Truth Social exists.”
