Musk: Twitter has no ‘actual choice’ as it complies with government censorship requests

TWITTER CEO ELON MUSK IS DEFENDING HIS ACTIONS THIS WEEK ON TWITTER AMID ACCUSATIONS HE IS CAVING TO A RECORD NUMBER OF CENSORSHIP DEMANDS ON THE PLATFORM

THE BILLIONAIRE BUSINESSMAN WHO LANDED IN BEIJING THIS WEEK TO SHORE UP HIS BUSINESS TIES WITH CHINA –  IS FACING PUSHBACK HERE IN THE US FOLLOWING REPORTS HIS PLATFORM HAS COMPLIED WITH MORE GOVERNMENT REQUESTS TO CENSOR POSTED CONTENT NOW THAN BEFORE HE TOOK CONTROL

NOW RESPONDING TO THOSE REPORTS MUSK SAYS TWITTER HAS NO ACTUAL CHOICE WHEN IT COMES TO GOVERNMENT MANDATED CENSORSHIP..

THIS IS A STORY NOT RECEIVING WIDE COVERAGE VIA RIGHT LEANING NEWS OUTLETS ACCORDING TO OUR MEDIA MISS TOOL … MOST OF THE COVERAGE IS COMING FROM CENTER AND LEFT-ORIENTED NEWS OUTLETS – WE’RE CHOOSING TO REPORT THIS TO GIVE YOU THE CONTEXT ONE SIDE MAY NEGLECT

BLOOMBERG COLUMNIST MATHEW IGLESIAS SHARED THE REPORT OF TWITTER’S CENSORSHIP – PROMPTING THIS RESPONSE FROM MUSK..QUOTE PLEASE POINT OUT WHERE WE HAD AN ACTUAL CHOICE AND WE’LL REVERSE IT

IT’S WORTH NOTING DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD IMPOSE LEGAL RESTRICTIONS ON FREE EXPRESSION AND IF TWITTER FAILS TO COMPLY WITH LOCAL LAWS, THEY COULD FACE PENALTIES SUCH AS FINES OR EVEN A POTENTIAL BAN IN CERTAIN REGIONS. – MUSK KNEW THIS AND PREVIOUSLY INDICATED TWITTER WOULD COMPLY

HOWEVER GIVEN ELON MUSK’S VISION OF A FREE SPEECH PLATFORM SOME USERS ARGUE MUSK HAS A CHOICE TO REFUSE AND FACE THE CONSEQUENCES TO PROTECT FREE SPEECH. WHEN THIS WAS POINTED OUT BY THE BLOOMBERG COLUMNIST, MUSK REPLIED WITH THIS INSULT

MEANWHILE MORE PRESSURE FOR CENSORSHIP ON TWITTER AFTER FRANCE’S DIGITAL MINISTER WENT ON THE OFFENSE QUOTE “TWITTER, IF IT REPEATEDLY DOESN’T FOLLOW OUR RULES, WILL BE BANNED FROM THE EU”

THAT’S IN RESPONSE TO TWITTER RECENTLY WITHDRAWING FROM THE EU’S VOLUNTARY DISINFORMATION CODE OF PRACTICE WHICH SPELLS OUT RULES FOR BIG TECH TO CLAMP DOWN ON SUPPOSED DISINFORMATION

WHILE TWITTER HAS NOT DIRECTLY RESPONDED TO HOW THEY’LL REACT MUSK IS MAKING THE CASE TWITTER’S CENSORSHIP PRACTICES RIGHT NOW IS A LESSER OF TWO EVILS: 

CENSOR SOME CONTENT ON TWITTER TO AVOID A TOTAL BAN *OR* REFUSE TO LIMIT CONTENT AND RISK SOME USERS GETTING ZERO ACCESS

DEFENDING MUSK THIS USER WROTE IT’S UP TO THE PEOPLE TO ELECT A GOVERNMENT WHO ENSHRINES THEIR NATURAL RIGHTS AND RESPECTS THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE … TWITTER DOES NOT HAVE THE POWER TO DO THIS – TO WHICH MUSK RESPONDED *EXACTLY*

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS BREAKDOWN – FOR CONTINUED COVERAGE ON THIS STORY – YOU CAN VISIT STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS .COM