In 2022, Elon Musk defined himself as a "free speech absolutist" when he bought the social media network Twitter, which he renamed X, for $44 billion (€40 billion). "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," asserted the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, expressing his libertarian ideas at the time. "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."
Two years later, Musk has transformed the social media network into an instrument of power for promoting his ideas, which continue to drift to the far right.
The billionaire has turned into a political player, financing and promoting Donald Trump. On Monday, August 12, he conducted a live chat with Trump on X, although there were initially technical issues. Additionally, Musk has engaged in conflicts with governments, particularly targeting the United Kingdom and Venezuela at the beginning of August.
"Support freedom of expression in the UK!" urged Musk on August 9, who considers British legal convictions for racial hatred as an attack on free speech. Keir Starmer's government accused the social media platform of fuelling misinformation and propagating hate speech amid far-right riots that followed the murder of three girls. The murders were falsely attributed to a Muslim who came to the UK by boat, when in fact it was committed by a UK-born teenager, the son of Rwandan immigrants. In late 2023, Musk reinstated the X account of far-right influencer Tommy Robinson, who in recent weeks amplified the false rumor. On August 4, in a comment accompanying a video published by the latter, Musk tweeted: "Civil war is inevitable."
In Caracas, there is strong criticism leveled against President Nicolas Maduro, who has been accused of massive fraud in the recent presidential election. "Shame on Dictator Maduro," tweeted Musk, rejoicing that X was the first network in Venezuela. The Venezuelan leader believes that Musk is spreading hate speech and fueling protests against him. He accused him of being a front for an operation to destabilize the US. On August 9, he shut down the social media. "X closed for 10 days! Elon Musk out!" declared Maduro, who also accused him of being "the representation of fascist, anti-natural, anti-society ideology." Curiously, both the centrist Labour government and the far-left dictatorship are being equally criticized.
As soon as he bought Twitter, it became clear, through Musk's increasingly numerous and committed tweets, that his network would be less the promised forum for civilized debate than an instrument devoted to his cause. Specifically, the billionaire's promises of freedom turned into a radical critique of the media and other social networks, accusing them of being biased toward the Democrats, particularly regarding the censorship of anti-vaccine views during the Covid-19 pandemic and the suspension of accounts of far-right personalities. As early as November 2022, Musk reinstated Trump's account, which has been suspended after the attempted Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. The defeated president had said he was "very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country."
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