What is Elon Musk’s ‘free speech’ model for Twitter? Tesla CEO explains

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently made one of the biggest business purchases of all time – the global social networking platform Twitter. After acquiring the company, Musk has talked about his idea of having “free speech” on the microblogging website.

In the past, the SpaceX founder has expressed how content moderators have been too involved in the tweets posted on the website and has talked about how Twitter will have “free speech” if he claims ownership of the company.

After making an offer that Twitter couldn’t refuse, Elon Musk successfully bought the company on April 25. Shortly after acquiring the platform, the world’s richest man explained how he plans to introduce free speech on the social networking space.

Explaining his vision for Twitter, Elon Musk said that the version of free speech that he supports is one that matches the law. He further said he is against censorship that goes beyond the law, criticizing going beyond the law.

In a tweet, Musk wrote, “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 the government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”

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.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022

Soon after he claimed ownership of one of the most used social networking sites across the globe, Musk was met with a lot of criticism from government bodies as well as netizens. As a rebuttal, he tweeted, “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.”

The deal between Twitter and Musk was finalized two days ago when his bid of USD 44 billion was accepted by the company. It is expected that Musk will introduce a string of changes to Twitter Inc, including easing content moderators and an open-sourced algorithm.

Before buying the entire company, Musk had purchased around 9.1 percent of the total shares of Twitter, making him the biggest shareholder of the company. He was also set to join the board of directors of Twitter Inc but decided against it.

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