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Elon Musk has suspended a slew of liberal journalists and pundits from Twitter. It is, as Benjamin Braddoc puts it, a red wedding for the liberal establishment. I initially believed that he was just the "controlled" opposition of the deep state, obviously he's stepped on way too many toes for that. This imo underscores an important truth to the ultra principled who believe in free speech absolutism and neutral institutions, the overton window won't shift the other way just to punish the "heretics" who've assailed this sacred virtue. Social media, our Frankenstein, has made it insanely easier for mob rule to influence culture (not that it wasn't already).
I still don't believe we're witnessing complete course reversal, but this could just be the first legitimate W for the right.
EDIT: It looks like he's lifting the suspension.
Alternatively, it suggests that right wing "free speech" warriors never had a principled commitment to free speech as a value and were just angry that they were getting moderated and criticized.
Alternatively alternatively, it suggets that Elon Musk never had a principled commitment to free speech as a value and given the opportunity will punish people who criticize him.
What is a "legitimate W" and why would this be the first?
Anyone who thinks either party takes free speech seriously hasn't been keeping score for long enough. I know "both sides are bad" is a a very tepid take, but its just true on this one. Both sides have stuff they wish everyone would just shut up about, and unscrupulous enough legislators to give a shot at enacting controls on speech given the right political climate.
This is why organizations like the ACLU are important, in theory at least.
I don't think many people are surprised to see a Republican turn out not to care very much about freedom of speech. The interesting things is that Elon Musk, specificallly, has turned out not to care about freedom of speech very much and is doing things he explicitly said he would not do not long ago, using very similar excuses that the left has used to censor its political opponents, namely a nebulous concern for safety.
People keep repeating this, but none of them have bothered to make the apples to apples comparison of discriminating against political viewpoints versus banning real-time location doxxing. Until they do, this is just more 'Boo Musk' weaksauce.
Wake me up when Elon starts banning people for referring to Rachel Levine by their preferred pronouns.
It may not be the same or even as bad, but it is certainly noteworthy that Elon Musk is turning out to be a hypocrite who doesn't care as much about free speech as he said he did.
I will consider it noteworthy once everything in the Twitter files and the incestuous relationship between SV, the state, and the media (some of banned themselves being implicated in the drops) receives the same measure and moreso.
Unt then - No. I really dont find this noteworthy at all despite your insistence. The last 10 years has been a graveyard of high-minded tech companies loudly pledging their allegiance to free speech suddenly doing an about-face and reneging on that promise when it was convenient. The mainstream conversation about hypocrisy on social media platforms will not start at Elon Musk.
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