← Back to context

Comment by andruby

16 days ago

Does Elon _really_ support free speech?

* He suspended multiple journalists from Twitter/X in December 2022 after they had reported on or criticized him [0]

* He has been accused of retaliating against critics and employees through threats, lawsuits, or firings, rather than tolerating dissent. [1]

* He selective enforcing Twitter/X platform rules. Here's 10 examples: [2]

He tolerates speech he likes and often punishing speech he dislikes. That's not being a "free speech" absolutist.

[0] https://truthout.org/articles/free-speech-watchdogs-condemn-...

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/free-speech-absolutist-elon-...

[2] https://gizmodo.com/10-times-elon-musk-censored-twitter-user...

> That's not being a "free speech" absolutist.

One doesn't need to be a free speech absolutist to not be a fascist, far from it; and the exceptions prove the rule - those examples are the definition of exceptional. "10 times…" I can remember people getting banned en masse for changing their profile pic to an NPC character. The difference is night and day.