Nah, X is worse for free speech than it ever has been. Musk shut down Crimethinc just because one of his bootlickers went "ooh ooh they did a crime". Crimethinc actually produce a lot of great journalism, some of which would actually support right wing views... if the right wingers who complain about safe spaces and bubbles and "diverse interactions" actually read anything. For instance, they had a pretty detailed conversation with one of the rioters at the George Floyd protests, when all the """left""" wing media claimed that it was a minority of bad infiltrating people doing the rioting, these guys straight up published a source that said that no, it was tactical to lure the cops away from the police station. That they incentivised and encouraged the rioting internally. They outlined the processes they used to split off the mostly white liberal element so they could achieve these ends. It was extraordinary. And obviously, they should meet the definition of free speech.

The problem is that Musk came in and lifted the bans on a lot of people who were removed for roughly the correct thing, community standards. And then he let those very people help him find the voices you do want in the community and shut them down. Its gone beyond just echo chamber, and now the management has a clique. That clique doesnt just hate free speech, they loathe the people that largely use such rights like journalists.

Then of course theres all the shit about compliance with foreign governments etc. Twitters going to be an amazing case study one day in the future that will likely conclude against "free speech" as Musk poorly interprets it.

My impression is that the goal isn't to uphold free speech, its never done that, its to create a safe space to be an asshole. And that if you can hold your own against the assholes, then they will find a way to abuse their position in the clique to get you banned.

Back in the day you had these coffee shops, that may or may not be partially responsible for the success of so called western civilization. People would travel across europe to visit and exchange ideas with likeminded people. Thats not what social media is. People arent having robust, intentional, intellectual discussions, they are forming tribes and attacking each other with whatever weapons are available. People wake up in the morning and check their notifications like people in the blitz looking out the window to see if their neighbors survived the night. Aiding one side or the other of the conflict should never be conflated with "promoting diverse interactions".