if I can’t call people slurs or post child porn then free speech is dead

🙄

Something something reach, said by some moron.

Musk is trying to block their freedom to monitor Twitter, largely it seems because it’s pointing out the hate speech.

It’s always “whataboutisms” with this type. Never an actual defense, just a deflection to something else.

Freedom from the government. They fought against censorship from the government. No one wants to hear their hateful shit be prioritized by an algo so that they get a megaphone on a private platform. Fuck. That. Noise.

Yeah, and look what happened when bigots were emboldened.

There’s a difference between not allowing the government to stop private speech, and a private platform hosting stochastic terrorism and attacking anyone who tries to tell them it’s wrong.

You can sue the government for infringing your rights. You can’t sue (and win against) researchers who are literally just stating your actions and pointing to the immediate and obvious consequences.

The US government doesn’t prohibit Nazi’s from marching, nor does it silence them. So… What the fuck are you talking about?

The reason these types don’t do this more is because most people fucking abhore them. Free speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences, or universal tolerance… It just means the government isn’t allowed to silence their citizens.

There are exceptions to this when it comes to public safety (e.g. Yelling “FIRE” in a public theater), but overall the US holds firm on allowing people to say and do what they want.

In Musk’s case, he doesn’t support anything even remotely resembling free speech. He is constantly being called out for silencing people and organizations he disagrees with. He keeps trying to pretend he’s not doing this by projecting his own brazen actions on the very people he’s attacking. It’s a very Trump-esque technique, and it can be very effective among dumb and impressionable people.

Yeah! You’re 100% right!!! Freedom for everyone! Just because they’re from a small non-profit doesn’t mean they’re not entitled to the same protections everyone else enjoys. You, I, and everyone else have the right to say Twitter promotes hate speech and Elon is a racist bastard, and he shouldn’t be able to stop that no matter how much money he has! Especially if they have the proof to back it up!

This is the sort of thing someone with a persecution complex would say.

To be tolerant you have to intolerante the intolerant.

Freedom of speech! Unless you criticize the governments of Turkey or India. Or give out public information about where Musk’s private plane is parked or flying. Or report on that account giving out that information. Or report on the hate speech on Twitter.

Other than that, Musk is entirely in favor of freedom of speech! Until he can come up with another exception.

I don’t recall the ACLU ever fighting to compel a private business to promote or facilitate hate speech.