Musk claims that he is buying the micro-blogging site in order to protect free speech. What does Musk mean by free speech? On Tuesday, one day after striking a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, Musk gave a somewhat vague answer to a question. The sale to Musk needs shareholder approval.
Musk made a pinned statement on his account.
By "free speech," I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
There are many ways to interpret Musk's statement as it relates to the First Amendment. One interpretation is that Musk doesn't need to change his account to preventcensorship that goes far beyond the law.
The First Amendment says that Congress can't make laws that interfere with the freedom of speech, the press, or the right of the people to assemble.
Judges have ruled that private companies have the right to moderate content. Both Florida and Texas tried to pass laws that would force social networks to scale back their moderation of their content. Judges ruled that the laws violate the First Amendment rights of the companies.
AdvertisementIn that sense, the moderation of content on the site matches the law on free speech in the US. Musk thinks that content moderation is a violation of free speech. His statement that free speech should match the law may mean he thinks that the US Congress should not impose rules and policies that Musk deems to becensorship.
US law does not say that free speech must go beyond what US law requires, so Musk wants free speech that goes beyond what US law requires. Musk can achieve his goal by changing the policies on what types of content are banned and by changing the way that Twitter uses its algorithm.
The US is notable for not having many government-imposed limits on free speech. China blocks Twitter for example. There will be new rules on the moderation of illegal and harmful content in Europe.
Musk said that if people want less free speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to make it harder. China has an extensive Internet censorship system and Russia restricts news because the people they govern want the government to restrict speech.
Musk wrote that Starlink has been told by some governments to block Russian news sources. We won't do it unless we have to.
Musk's new definition of free speech suggests a different approach in which he would be willing to restrict speech in any country where the government requires him to do so. Using Musk's explanation of free speech, a government law that prohibits certain kinds of speech is just the will of the people.
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