Elon Musk Obediently Censors Twitter When Dictator Tells Him To
futurism.com
futurism.com
In parallel they can influence for change.
This means that a company / CEO might be loudly outspoken on an issue in some locales but have to be more strategic and nuanced in other countries.
To cast this as hypocrisy is disingenuous on the part of the publication.
It's not strategic or nuanced. It's capitulation.
As Jimmy Wales said (https://twitter.com/jimmy_wales/status/1657495726379745280), "If Elon is now saying 'We don't care about freedom of expression if it interferes with making money' then he should just say that."
> To cast this as hypocrisy is disingenuous on the part of the publication.
Musk set his own benchmark. Musk cast himself as a "free speech absolutist". Musk said, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated." (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/30/elon-musk...)
Musk is a hypocrite by his own standard.
The truth is Musk is an authoritarian at heart. For him "free speech" was a convenient, meaningless marketing slogan and not a principle he was prepared to stand up for, as he himself demonstrates over and over.
Not all countries are democracies.
> The truth is Musk is an authoritarian at heart.
You don’t know what is in someone’s heart or mind.
Turkey is. Turkey is in the middle of elections right now.
> You don’t know what is in someone’s heart or mind.
Sure I do. The best way is to judge them by their actions. Musk's own actions are the proof of it.
Wikipedia stood up for itself:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50918724
Too bad Musk doesn't share those free speech principles.
I believe Wikipedia was also blocked for 2 years (2017 — 2019), according to that BBC article.
So I think the question in front of one is: is it better to be shut off (with no guarantee that you will be able to operate there again), or do you stand firm on principles.
In the case of Wikipedia, at least the Turkish Supreme Court sided with them, but if one looks at the trend of diminishing civil and political liberty in Turkey, I think that was partly luck.
Even though Turkey has elections, it is not considered a free society by Freedom House: https://freedomhouse.org/country/turkey/freedom-world/2021
What regulations are you referring to?
Meanwhile, Musk defended the decision. After blogger Matthew Yglesias accused Musk of complying, the billionaire CEO lashed out at him.
"Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias?" Musk shot back. "The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirely or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?"
Others didn't see it that way. Famed journalist Kara Swisher, for instance, had harsh words for Musk.
"There is only one [brain] falling out of one head and that's Elon's," Swisher tweeted in response to the exchange. "Being a persistent quisling to authoritarian governments upon which your other businesses are dependent has a very Vichy France vibe,"