World waits for Musk’s definition of ‘free speech’
Elon Musk proudly calls himself a zealot for “free speech,” which takes on special meaning now that he apparently has sealed a deal to purchase Twitter.
While it is hard to say what Musk will do until he does it, his fans have high hopes and his detractors are looking for ways to clip his wings.
His famously flamboyant fascination with the social network’s power is facing mounting questions about what he really has in mind and how it will square with the social, political and legal realities of a world that already likes to think of Twitter as if it belonged to them, or should.
Free speech is a virtue with about as many definitions as people who claim to believe in it. Many of those on the right who cheer his rise hope he will sweep out the liberal bias they discern on such platforms. Many on the left fear he will unleash harassment, disinformation and impolite tweeters who have been suspended or banished from the site.
Exhibit A is the unofficial former tweeter-in-chief, former President Donald Trump, who was banned permanently from the network in January 2021.
Musk has been mum about the details of his outlook, except for such tidbits as this tweet on April 26: “By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”
Ah, if only the matter was that simple. The First Amendment bars government from intruding on free press or free speech, among other rights. It does not apply to judgments made by a private editor, moderator or publisher.
Censorship occurs when the government imposes limits on the speech of people under its power. Free speech is your ability to say what you want without worrying about government intrusion except for such harmful and/or criminal examples as libel, slander, hate speech, harassment and intimidation. Basically, once ownership is transferred to him, Musk is free to say or allow what he wants on the site, until he gets sued. If he lets Twitter’s content degrade into a digital cesspool that no one wants to use, that would be a bad business development, not a constitutional crisis.
While it is hard to say what Musk will do until he does it, his fans have high hopes and his detractors are looking for ways to clip his wings.
Republicans and other conservatives have charged social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with bias for taking down tweets, canceling some accounts, and tagging others with warning notices.
Musk was outspoken on a justifiable bone of GOP contention: Twitter’s limiting, along with Facebook, of the distribution of a New York Post story shortly before the 2020 election that claimed to show “smoking gun” emails about Joe Biden’s son Hunter. The story has since been corroborated by other media outlets,
But the political right has no monopoly on such digitalage discontents. Former President Barack Obama warned in a recent speech that social media are “tilting us in the wrong direction.” He talked extensively about how the design and features of technology services can be manipulated too easily and called for more regulation of internet content.
“Without some standards, the implications of this technology for our elections, for our legal system, for our democracy, for rules of evidence, for our entire social order, are frightening and profound,” he said.
Meanwhile other Americans want to roll back controls on internet commerce. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., introduced a bill to abolish a 1996 law that gives more protection from liability to online platforms than any old-style media enjoy. Her bill would prevent online platforms from exerting “undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, class of persons, political or religious group or affiliation, or locality.” The bill is aimed to corral online bias against conservatives, but it probably would provide consumers with just as much power to sue against perceived bias against liberals.
Welcome aboard and happy sailing, Mr. Musk. We’ll be watching with interest.