Musk has relied on the social media platform for years to promote his interests and shape his public image.
Mr. Musk said in a statement that free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy and that the digital town square is where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.
Musk has characterized himself as a First Amendment and free speech advocate for years, for example, in defending himself in a defamation lawsuit after calling a critic a pedo guy.
Musk's free speech advocacy seems to apply mostly to his own speech or that of his fans, as pointed out by The Atlantic. TechDirt says that Musk doesn't understand free speech or moderation of content.
Musk doesn't show much tolerance when it comes to free speech.
WhenTesla laid off employees, it asked them to sign separation agreements with no end-date, and a strong non-disparagement clause. These kinds of agreements are common in the industry, but Musk is not a free-speech absolutist.
A copy of an agreement from the company was shared with CNBC by a former employee who did not sign it.
You agree not to insult the company, their officers, directors, employees, shareholders, agents, affiliates, and subsidiaries in any way that is likely to be harmful to them or their business.
In the same document,Tesla required laid off employees to keep details about the separation agreement hidden, other than from their own lawyer, accountant or immediate family.
The agreement states that the provisions will be held in strictest confidence by you and will not be publicized or disclosed in any way.
Most large companies require workers to sign an agreement before they are hired. Workers need to get an exemption from the agreement if they want to speak freely in court.
Scores of workers at the company have accused Musk of harassment, discrimination and unsafe working conditions. Many people have said that they were retaliated against after speaking about problems.
The company has a long track record, but the allegations have been in the spotlight recently due to a lawsuit by the California civil rights agency.
In August of last year, a former employee of the company, Karl Hansen, filed a complaint with the SEC, saying that he was wrongly terminated from his job as an investigator at the company. He claimed that the theft was concealed from shareholders because it was a material amount of money.
Stephen Henkes said he was fired from his job at the company in August of 2020 after raising safety concerns and complaining to the government. The SEC is considering complaints as evidence.
Musk has sought control over what journalists, analysts, and other researchers say about him and his businesses.
The CEO berated the analyst on the earnings call. The CEO said that questions about his company's capital requirements are not cool. The company just posted its worst quarterly loss in history. Musk sometimes skips speaking on earnings calls.
Musk has asked reporters to sign non-disclosure agreements or show story drafts to the company to get approval before publishing.
He called on his followers to change his biography on the internet encyclopedia. It's insane, can someone please remove investor from it? His followers edited the page to make it less about his investments.
Musk dislikes fan blogs that write about his company's weaknesses.
After the site published a story with a headline that said "Tesla is charging owners $1,500 for hardware they already paid for", the company stopped inviting staff to company events. The story addresses Musk's company's failure in the race to deliver self-driving cars to long-awaited customers.
Musk has sought to silence customers. Customers were required to sign agreements containing non-disclosure clauses if they wanted their vehicles repaired.
In order to allow customers to use their own cars to test out the experimental driver assistance software package,Tesla asked customers to not post critically to social media about it.
In an agreement that was sent to drivers earlier this year, the company asked them to keep their experiences confidential and not to give any information about the program to the public.
According to a copy of the full agreement obtained by CNBC, the sites where owners should not share information about their use of the service are: Facebook,Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.
Musk said nobody was obeying the agreement and lifted the terms for access. The practice caused a probe by the NHTSA.
NHTSA relies on reports from consumers as an important source of information in evaluating potential safety defects, and any agreement that may prevent or discourage participants from reporting safety concerns to NHTSA is unacceptable.
In China,Tesla has sued customers who complained about safety issues with their cars, and a social media influencer for defamation. A video was posted by Xiaogang Xuezhang showing issues with automated emergency braking systems.
Musk and his attorneys have filed confidential treatment requests for legal and business filings in the US.
Federal auto regulators sought vehicle safety information from the company as a routine investigative practice, as well as business information that the company used to apply for tax subsidies from the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.
In cases before the Delaware Chancery court and other courts, attorneys for Musk have tried to keep employee and executive testimony hidden.
Free speech rights have been exercised by Musk and his companies.
Musk said that Starlink would keep Russian news sources online despite calls from un-named governments to block them.
Some governments have told Starlink to block Russian news sources. We won't do it unless we have to.
Musk is fighting an administrative court ruling that he must remove a post from his feed because it violates workers rights. There was nothing stopping the team at the car plant from voting union. If they wanted, could do that. Why do unions give up stock options for nothing?
The SEC charged Musk with civil securities fraud, but he didn't have to have a securities law expert pre-approve some of his posts.
Even though a court had ordered Musk to have some of his posts pre-approved by securities law compliance experts if they contained information likely to impact the company's stock price, he said in an interview that most of his posts are not supervised. He said hello to the First Amendment. Free speech is important.
Musk's free speech absolutism is only aspirational if he truly believes that.
By controlling the social network, Musk can protect his ability to keep using it to promote his companies, investments and himself, as he wants to be seen.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
