Elon Musk Blocks Public Citizen, Raising A Kerfuffle About Free Speech On Twitter

April 27th, 2022 - 12:20 PM EDT by Aidan Walker

15 comments | Contact Newsroom

A screenshot that Public Citizen posted of the Musk block, along with a Tweet commenting on the situation and Public Citizen's logo.

The consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen posted a screenshot to Twitter yesterday showing that Elon Musk has blocked it on the platform. Public Citizen, which focuses on curbing the power of corporations over American society on issues like election financing and environmental regulation, cited the block as evidence that Musk is not actually committed to the principle of free speech.


Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion earlier this week, and notably started a discussion surrounding the platform's role in free speech as a “town square” for open discussion late last month, suggesting that Twitter’s content moderation should be toned down.


In a vaguely worded pinned tweet yesterday, Musk seemed to suggest that he would match federal law (presumably American law) in regulating free speech on Twitter and not go “beyond the law.” Many users pointed out cases where this approach may be insufficient or seems to contradict Musk’s previous promises about changes to the platform.


Supporters of Musk pushed back against Public Citizen, defending the new owner of Twitter’s morals and commitment to free speech. They pointed out that a right to free speech does not guarantee a right to be listened to, and that it is well within Musk’s rights to block speech he personally doesn’t wish to hear. Twitter is now Musk’s private property, and it was never governed by the First Amendment (which only applies to the federal government). That being said, many users expressed fear that Musk may apply his own standards across the platform, potentially silencing voices he disagrees with.


Many (including Public Citizen) have criticized actions Musk took in the past to silence or refute critics of Tesla and his other projects.


Supporters of Public Citizen responded by calling out what they saw as Musk’s hypocrisy.


A lot of eyeballs are now on Elon Musk, who has thrust himself into the center of the public square with his purchase of Twitter. Almost everybody on the platform now seems to wonder what Musk will do with the power he has just bought himself, and how the multi-billionaire will define exactly what he means by “free speech.”



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MCC1701

First, this is dumb. You have to be incredibly thick to think that being blocked by a particular user inhibits your freedom of speech, or believe your followers are.

Second, I'm always annoyed when people try to find the slightest deviation from one's professed principle to claim they are a hypocrite and anything they say is invalid. Few principles if any hold up 100% of the time, and those exceptions are usually for very good reason. Free speech advocates are usually okay with libel and defamation being illegal, most libertarians see the value in at least some government, and even a pacifist may be stirred to action to save the lives of others. It's people who see no compromise or nuance and think you can and should adhere 100% to your "principles" that often show themselves to be monstrous and terrifying. /endrant

As for twitter under Musk I don't expect it to allow any and all speech, for a few reasons. The biggest is that there are laws that limit what can be posted online and I expect him to follow them(IE no CP), I'd also expect legitimate doxxing, harassment, death threats, etc to be acted upon, and of course porn/gore spammers and scammers will also not be allowed. I'm 100% okay with this and I expect most people to be as well, apart from those who exhibit this behavior or those who decide to pick the worst hills to die on.

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