Elon Musk’s social network has once again demonstrated its two-tiered defense of freedom of expression.
On Monday and Tuesday, numerous accounts on the X.com network of American journalists were suspended without explanation, before quickly returning. If the boss of the platform blamed an error in the algorithms, his conflictual relationship with journalists and especially the strange similarities between the profiles concerned allow us to at least cast doubt on this explanation.
Journalists and influencers classified on the left concerned
For approximately 24 hours, X.com carried out a major housecleaning, suspending the accounts of many influential American journalists and podcasters, most often offering them no explanation as to the reason for this decision. A purge which obviously did not go unnoticed, and in the face of numerous requests for explanations, the profiles concerned quickly saw their access restored.
Asked by a far-right influencer on the subject, Elon Musk personally responded “ I will investigate. Of course, we have the right to be critical, but it is not OK to call for violence, because it is illegal “. He also tweeted that “ we regularly clean up spam or scam accounts and, from time to time, legitimate accounts get caught with them “. While the explanation seems generally plausible, it remains surprising that the algorithm made so many errors in such a short time. But above all, the fact that almost all of the accounts concerned are openly progressive, and critical of both the government and the Israeli army, but also of Elon Musk himself, appears to be a strange coincidence.
His words and actions
“ The idea of freedom of expression is allowing opinions with which one disagrees to be expressed », Also tweeted the South African billionaire. The subject of freedom of expression is important to Elon Musk, since he cited it among the reasons that motivated him to acquire the social network. Describing himself as a “ absolutist of freedom of expression “, he found this explanation very practical when it allowed him to decree a general amnesty for Twitter accounts banned by the former management, generally for hateful, violent, or even conspiratorial comments.
The fact remains that for Elon Musk, this concept apparently does not apply to everyone in the same way, since he now has a fairly long history of non-compliance with this principle. For example, he suspended the account that tracked his various private jet trips, but also accepted the Turkish government’s demands to censor certain opposition accounts. He also decided that certain words, like cisgender for example, were now insults and banned on his network.
This variable freedom of expression also applies in his companies, since he fiercely fights against the creation of unions, and did not hesitate to dismiss his employees who had the audacity to criticize him. Although to be honest, those who fell into line were far from being guaranteed job security.
Source : Gizmodo
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