The EU has given Elon Musk until August to comply with stringent censorship. He doesn’t have much choice but to comply. He has to comply with the laws of each country he is operating in. Musk also admitted he cannot control the censorship on his platform.
In January, the UN regulator, the EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, attended the World Economic Forum. She threatened Elon Musk.
“We have the rules which must be complied with, and otherwise, there will be sanctions. I think that the confidence has been weakened, and I had quite a high level of confidence when it comes to Twitter. I have to say that we worked with knowledgeable people, with layers, with sociologists, who understood that they have to behave in some decent way. Not to cause really big harm to society. ..”
The Commission also stated that the US will soon have hate speech laws.
The Threat to Free Speech
Redheaded Libertarian explained the latest threat to the free speech Elon Musk is trying to give back to the once-free world.
The Redhead Libertarian was asked if Elon Musk should ban some material from some countries. She explained that he was between a rock and a hard place.
“Countries without a bill or rights to protect citizens from their governments are threatening total bans of Twitter in their countries if censorship orders are not complied with by August.
“Many have enshrined “hate speech” into law and have also created stringent guidelines for social media operating in their countries.
“Elon Musk has two options:
- Limiting some material will allow citizens in these despotic countries access to Twitter, minus some censored material.
- Limiting no material means zero access to any and all Twitter material in these countries. Ironically, a total ban.
“So this particular problem is rooted in authoritarianism, and until something changes, it’s a lesser of two evils situation. It’s up to the people to elect a government that enshrines their natural rights and respects the power of the people. Twitter does not have the power to do this for them.”
I would absolutely believe you.
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) May 29, 2023
That would require them to do investigative journalism instead of salacious opinion pieces.
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) May 29, 2023
Elon Musk responded in agreement.
Exactly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2023
Musk Doesn’t Control the Censorship on His Own Platform?
Elon Musk responded to this clown also. Mr. Musk put himself on the line for free speech. We doubt Mr. Yglesias has put himself on the line for anything.
He could’ve said “I want to change some content moderation policies to make them friendlier to some right of center views in the context of American politics.”
But he chose instead to articulate this ~absolutist~ view only to backpedal under pressure from dictators. It’s funny.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 28, 2023
Twitter is a privately held company.
I, personally, would not censor Slow Boring content at the request of foreign authoritarian governments even if that cost me some money. https://t.co/cFnLiLKLC8
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 28, 2023
You’re such a numbskull. Please point out where we had an actual choice and we will reverse it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 28, 2023
Look, I’m not the one who bought Twitter amidst a blaze of proclamations about free speech principles. Obviously you’re within your rights to run your business however you want.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 28, 2023
Sundance at Conservative Treehouse explains his take on Elon’s dilemma. He has to make decisions based on the financials to keep the company from going under, no matter how much he cares about free speech. Sundance says Twitter is based on a defective business model. Sundance suspects Twitter was subsidized by the government when it was under Jack Dorsey’s ownership and could even be in bankruptcy now. It’s an interesting article on this link.
As Sundance writes, this is why Linda Yaccarino [WEF leftist] is the CEO. She will be the bridge to Google/WEF.
It’s a sorry state of affairs if true. I’m not sure I agree, but it could be.
People don’t seem to realize that we are in the hands of a globalist authoritarian movement. Americans haven’t seen the impact and don’t realize what is happening to them.
Censor nothing! Block EU access. The people who want to use Twiitter can always use a VPN. It would be interesting to see how the People of the EU react to the EU trying to block VPNs. Imagine the the disruption to Business if they did that. Musk can even force people to go to the Dark Web for access via a Tor Browser.
I do like your response but I also believe Twitter may need EU consumers and advertisers in order to stay solvent. If so, he can still play by their rules by annoying them with blacked-out redactions that they (EU citizens) can’t unmask but everyone else in the free world is reading without impediment. No more “shadow censorship*. Make it obvious when nations with inferior freedom are routinely restricting your access to information. This can backfire on the EU politicians and the WEF in a big way. It’s a powerful way for Twitter to stay in business while lawfully pushing back in the censorship fight.
Thinking patriots warned this was coming when Barack Hussein Obama turn control of the internet over to the UN as he enacted his plan to fundamentally transform America in his Hope & Change vision. It is past time to defund the UN and throw the anti America, anti freedom bums out.
Censorship is tedious. But if they’ve got a method to censor specific tweets then they should display and visibly redact the “offensive” tweets. Anyone who has read a redacted document knows it will drive the readers crazy that their government doesn’t allow them to read and write certain words. It will make them want to read the uncensored version the way Americans can freely do. They will regret the censorship in their authoritarian nation as it will be teasing them behind every mysterious redaction. They will know they are missing half the conversation for childish reasons. Musk can rub their noses in the redactions, in full compliance of their local censorship laws. Musk can win the censorship argument by making the citizens hate the effects of censorship in their own nation.
With the redactions so obvious, and so mysterious, people will try to bypass them with vpn services, alternate accounts, or apps used to bypass the redactions through a proxy Twitter service based in a less restrictive country. They may also grow to despise censorship and demand to be free adults in their country. If that happens, Musk will be changing the world for the better. Visible redactions of people’s everyday lives and conversations will be a catalyst to create widespread demand for free access to all viewpoints, real investigative news, and information.