Elon Musk Doesn’t Care About Free Speech. He Cares About Power.
The battle isn’t about free speech. It’s about unchecked power.
In April 2022, Elon Musk announced his plan to buy Twitter.
He was the richest man in the world at the time. His announcement was cloaked in moral purity and self-flattery.
Musk fancies himself the savior of free speech incarnate. He tells the world his purchase of the social media platform was to save free speech from left-wing forces who want to destroy it. What happened next was predictable.
A heated political debate erupted over the nature of free speech.
Elon garnered support from the free-speech absolutists. They claim to believe that free speech is almost always a good thing and that social media companies banning users for the things they say is akin to government censorship.
Musk and his supporters have argued that Twitter functions as the modern-day public square, a place where ideas can be hashed out through discussion.
In principle, they claim that companies shouldn’t arbitrarily ban users for things they say and post.
To Elon, Twitter isn’t just the public square. It’s the marketplace of ideas where our thoughts go to be fashioned into their…
