Because the buy of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk, speech appears to be free on the social community with the blue chicken. “Twitter recordsdata”, unblocked accounts, new visibility… However will there be a restrict to the “free speech” claimed by the American large ?
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No matter one thinks of Elon Musk and his plans to discovered a colony on Mars (SpaceX) or implant chips within the human mind (Neuralink), the least one can say is that the brand new proprietor of Twitter resides as much as his repute as a libertarian and has saved his promise to unlock the whistle chicken.
Again to regular (virtually)
Only one month after the takeover of the American social community, many suspended accounts have all of a sudden reappeared, essentially the most well-known of them being after all that of the previous president of the US, Donald Trump, blacklisted from the platform for the reason that assault on the Capitol in January 2021. However, not all accounts appear to be restored on the similar pace and among the censored scientists, media and different personalities are getting somewhat impatient. Let’s wager that they are going to be unblocked quickly…
HELLO @elonmusk ! C’est bien cette semaine que tu devais rétablir nos deux comptes médias @putsch_mag et @PutschMedia sur @TwitterFrance injustement suspendus ??? #censure #VoxPopuliVoxDei #rendeznousPutsch #ELONMUSK Merci de RT !!! pic.twitter.com/bAQzvjnZSr
— Nicolas Vidal (@nicolasputsch) December 2, 2022
A yr in the past, scientists have been suspended for saying:
🔸 Covid not deadlier than flu
🔸 No proof for masks efficacy
🔸 No proof for boosters
🔸 Myocarditis threat for Covid vaxThese scientists are nonetheless suspended.
Vox populi vox dei, @elonmusk?— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 3, 2022
Dr. Robert Malone is the co-inventor of mRNA vaccine know-how. He obtained suspended for writing about uncomfortable side effects of Covid vaccine, that are established details right now.@elonmusk, it is a disgrace that he and related scientists stay suspended!#ReinstateScientists pic.twitter.com/vMZgIJQG68
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 7, 2022
Different customers, whose opinions till then have been thought of not in accordance with the foundations of the group (particularly concerning the Covid disaster), have been capable of rejoice in a return to normalcy, with renewed visibility and a rise within the variety of followers. What the boss of Twitter is glad about.
je observe que depuis quelques jours on dirait que @twitter ne supprime plus d’abonnés?
Vous avez aussi remarqué?@CaudeHenrion @StatChrisCotton @THEVENONPierri1 @provost_patrick @PavanVincent @louisfouch3 @MichelJeanDomi1 @mmtchi @marseille_jeff @EmmaDarles @decoder_l— Hélène Banoun (@BanounHelene) December 4, 2022
So many attention-grabbing posts on Twitter today!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2022
On the different finish of the spectrum, disgruntled Twittos jumped ship shortly after the takeover, in an indication of disagreement with the brand new captain. That is honest sport.
Purple card for Kanye West
Nonetheless, Elon Musk’s libertarianism shortly got here up in opposition to its restrict with the case of rapper Kanye West, whose repeated anti-Semitic or Nazi feedback had already earned him a suspension. When he took over Twitter, the billionaire reinstated his account like many others. Nonetheless, the American rapper instantly began once more (and never solely on Twitter). His newest publication, a photograph of a swastika intertwined with the Star of David, pressured Elon Musk to come back out of his reserve and brandish the pink card by instantly suspending the account of the singer on December 2. “I did what I may,” he tweeted in a remark. Regardless of this, he [Kanye West] has once more violated our rule on inciting violence.”
ELON FIX KANYE PLEASE
— Alex 🃏🏝 (@TheeAleexJ) December 2, 2022
This radical resolution has clearly provoked some very robust reactions amongst subscribers, a few of whom reproach Musk for having a double discourse on freedom of expression, permitting himself to alter the foundations as he sees match. In any case, this proves that he too has his limits.
However, Elon Musk continues to wager on freedom, not solely of expression, but additionally of entry to accounts, and stays satisfied that this performs in favor of a pure moderation, noting that the extra customers there are on Twitter, the much less hate speech has a attain, with positivity finally successful over negativity. The experiment is at the very least price doing.
Hate speech impressions (# of occasions tweet was seen) proceed to say no, regardless of vital person development!@TwitterSafety will publish knowledge weekly.
Freedom of speech doesn’t imply freedom of attain. Negativity ought to & will get much less attain than positivity. pic.twitter.com/36zl29rCSM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022
“Vox populi, vox Dei
It’s also attention-grabbing to look at Elon Musk’s a priori democratic use of on-line polls to make sure choices. “Vox populi, vox Dei” (the voice of the folks is the voice of God) he introduced to his subscribers on the time of the ballot to resolve the destiny of Donald Trump’s account. The “sure” having received by 51.8%, the account was reinstated. That stated, Musk had dedicated to reinstate it nicely earlier than his precise takeover of the platform, so one wonders what he would have accomplished in case of a adverse outcome…
Extra just lately, one other survey has been within the information. The Twitter boss requested his subscribers in the event that they wished Julian Assange and Edward Snowden to be pardoned. On the time of writing, the reply is 80.5% “sure” with greater than 3.3 million voters! However who is aware of what will probably be accomplished with this outcome?
I’m not expressing an opinion, however did promise to conduct this ballot.
Ought to Assange and Snowden be pardoned?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2022
The revelation of the “Twitter recordsdata
One other promise honored by Elon Musk: transparency on the “Twitter recordsdata”. The revelations started final Friday with a collection of tweets explaining how the dissemination of the New York Publish’s October 2020 article on the Hunter Biden e mail affair had been impeded by the platform. “Twitter took extraordinary steps to take away the article, eradicating hyperlinks and posting warnings that it may very well be “harmful.” They even blocked its transmission by way of direct message, a device beforehand reserved for excessive circumstances, corresponding to baby pornography,” wrote Matt Taibbi, one among two journalists granted entry to the information.
17. On October 14, 2020, the New York Publish revealed BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based mostly on the contents of Hunter Biden’s deserted laptop computer: https://t.co/q4zaMw6aVV
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 3, 2022
With out going into the main points of this thread, we be taught in passing that requests for the deletion of embarrassing content material by one or different of the 2 American political events had change into commonplace over time. In a not very balanced manner, nevertheless, the Democrats having extra affect than the Republicans inside Twitter, as a result of they pay it massively extra money.
9. Celebrities and unknowns alike may very well be eliminated or reviewed on the behest of a political social gathering: pic.twitter.com/4uzkHnQ65E
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
The cleaning soap opera of the “Twitter recordsdata” is just not over and different revelations are to come back because the recordsdata are peeled off…
A freedom that disturbs
With Elon Musk, this period of censorship must be over. A minimum of that’s what he says. However this stunning freedom that he cherishes a lot is to not everybody’s style and a few political figures have already began to grind their tooth, at the very least in France and in Europe.
On December 1, the day by day Le Monde revealed an article entitled “Twitter: Emmanuel Macron believes that the tip of the battle in opposition to disinformation associated to Covid-19, determined by Elon Musk, is “an enormous drawback“. The French president even clarified that he was “in favor of the precise reverse, extra regulation.” This has the advantage of being clear.
The day earlier than, the European Commissioner for the Inside Market, Thierry Breton of France, stated that so as to adjust to European guidelines on the battle in opposition to disinformation, Twitter should “considerably strengthen content material moderation, defend freedom of expression and sort out disinformation with dedication. Search for the error! Confronted with such an antinomic determine of speech, typical of the Macronian “on the similar time” and of the present novlanguage, one can simply think about Musk bursting out laughing. And we will wager that his selection is already made: it is going to be freedom or nothing.
