Why is it so hard to believe that Musk genuinely believes in exactly the version of "freedom of speech" that everyone in his generation grew up with, that served as the impetus for much of the internet's creation, etc.?
I could certainly argue with someone on HN but also say their banning is unjust (if I felt that it was).
This has been a "solved" issue for centuries.
Did you mean to ask and answer your own question? If that was your intent it sure wasn't clear. Do you not know what "retaliate" means, even with the context clue of threatening lawsuits against journalists? Is your first paragraph meant to be entirely causally disconnected from the rest? If so I kind of have to respect it, but it would sure help to give us some clues because that is not a conventional writing structure. What, in short, are you trying to say?
>Do you not know what "retaliate" means
I'm using the actual definition, which I assumed you were too?
"make an attack or assault in return for a similar attack."
If someone were to criticize you, you can "retaliate" while also believing said person should be kicked off the platform. I'm doing it right now.
>threatening lawsuits against journalists
https://www.google.com/search?q=elon+musk+threaten+lawsuit+j...
I can't find anything about this, except for a FastCompany article which I can't access atm because their website is down.
which critics?
When I search for this, I get this article:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/elon-musk-and-free-speech-tr...
Which is full of honestly ridiculous examples like "he told an analyst to shut up and stop asking boneheaded questions." Or "he told his followers to edit his wikipedia page" ...?
The "best" examples are of workers are are currently in litigation.
Everything else, I see no reason why one couldn't support free speech on a social platform while also requiring beta testers to sign NDAs.
>welcome the criticism and respond with facts Do you have examples of where/when this could have been done?
At the end of the day, I feel like a lot of this just comes from the fact that when one supports free speech, it comes with a *. It's easier to say "I support free speech" vs "I support the idea people should be able to post their opinions online without being banned (this doesn't mean anyone can post live execution videos or organize crime, etc)."
He grew up on the internet. At a time when everyone was turning their internet web pages black to protest censorship. At a time when "the internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it" was a slogan touted proudly by technologists and philosophers.
It's not Elon Musk that changed, it seems to me. It's the cultural values on the internet that have changed, and arguably not for the better - more control, more censorship, more centralization.
Elon Musk was born in 1971. He grew up on television.
Yes, because bulletin board systems famously had no moderation whatsoever.
Wait...