from the free-speech-absolutism-sure-seems-different dept
Elon Musk does not seem to like it much when reports point out that ExTwitter appears to have a neo-Nazi issue. Of course, he could respond to these reports by noting that, as a “free speech absolutist,” that includes those who support Nazism, as distasteful as that is, but he stands by that horrific speech because of his belief in free speech.
That would suggest some sort of principles, even if you might consider them confused and distorted principles, at the very least.
However, the last few times organizations have pointed out the propensity of neo-Nazi content on ExTwitter, Elon Musk has done the opposite of committing to “free speech absolutism.” Instead, he’s sued those who reported on it. In August of last year, he sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). That lawsuit was recently tossed out of court as an obvious SLAPP suit.
And then, in November, he sued Media Matters for its report on advertising from big companies appearing next to content posted by neo-Nazis. Actually, he sued them twice. Once in Texas and then again in Ireland. He also urged state Attorneys General to go after Media Matters as well, which both Texas’ Ken Paxton and Missouri’s Andrew Bailey have done. Just last week, the court blocked Paxton’s investigation as clearly an attempt to suppress free speech.
In other words, while Musk could have taken a “free speech absolutist” response to these claims, he has instead chosen to take a “I believe in free speech for neo-Nazis, but not for anyone who criticizes me” approach to these things.
And, look, if you’re looking to create chilling effects and silence other critics, that could work. In the Paxton ruling that came out last week, it was revealed that Media Matters has chosen not to publish other stories it was working on about ExTwitter out of fear of further legal action. That is the very definition of abusing state power to suppress speech.
However, such tactics can also backfire in a big way. After Musk sued Media Matters, we noted that it caused a lot more people to begin investigating neo-Nazis on ExTwitter.
And now, the latest is NBC News, which has published a report highlighting that it has found 150 verified accounts on the site pushing pro-Nazi content.
To be clear, Musk has every right to set his policies however he wants. And that can include not just allowing neo-Nazis to post bigoted, false, hateful propaganda on his site, but even to have their accounts “verified” (which, of course, no longer means “verified” in any real sense).
Also, given the number of users on ExTwitter (large, though shrinking), it’s entirely reasonable to argue that the company doesn’t realize it has all these neo-Nazi accounts, or that they are verified accounts. Many people wouldn’t believe that, but it’s also a possible explanation if the company doesn’t want to just flat out say “we’re the Nazi bar, all are welcome.”
Of course, as with the Media Matters’s report, NBC also found ads running on many of these accounts, including ads from some big name companies:
Again, it’s entirely possible to argue that this is due to mistakes made in the vetting process. But, if that’s how Musk was going to argue this, he could have said that in response to Media Matters’ report a few months ago. Instead, he sued. Twice. And convinced states to open bullshit investigations.
So far, at least, ExTwitter hasn’t threatened to sue NBC News. The company whined that NBC only provided it with 13 examples, rather than the full 150. But, of course, it’s not NBC News’ job to help ExTwitter find the neo-Nazis on its platform:
Meanwhile, Elon has responded to an account claiming that the NBC story was debunked (it has not been) by effectively confirming the story and suggesting that 150 accounts is a pretty small number.
And, this is a perfectly reasonable response. But it would sound a lot more honest if Musk hadn’t sued two other organizations for reporting similar things. Also, at no point did NBC suggest that it had found all of the neo-Nazis posting on the site. Indeed, the article admits that it only did a relatively simple search and reported what it found.
Again, there are all sorts of ways that Musk and ExTwitter could respond to this, but so far, it’s choosing some of the silliest ways (though, at least Musk isn’t talking about lawsuits… yet).
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