Elon Musk picks his speech battle – The Washington Post – The Washington Post

Elon Musk picks his speech battle

Though Elon Musk often insists his goal with X is to promote free speech, his actions have rarely been those of the free-speech absolutist he once claimed to be. Yes, he has rolled back the social platforms policies on hate speech, cut back on content moderation and reinstated banned extremists under the free-speech banner. But he has also made up rules to ban accounts he doesnt like, suspended journalists and sued nonprofit advocacy groups in what one judge ruled was a bid to silence critics.

In the United States, the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act give X a free hand to moderate or tolerate speech as it sees fit. And while many on the left have decried Musks policies, theyve been widely cheered on the right. But its worth remembering that most X users are not American. And other countries have their own speech laws, some of them much more restrictive.

Since acquiring Twitter, which once prided itself on protecting dissidents abroad, Musk has proved unusually compliant when it comes to government censorship and surveillance requests.

In April 2022, Musk tweeted what seemed to be his clearest definition yet of what free speech means to him in the context of social media, saying its simply that which matches the law.

While Musk hasnt always held true to that principle domestically, he has generally adhered to it overseas. In India, for example, X agreed to block links to a BBC documentary that cast a critical lens on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and it has since capitulated to systematic censorship there. In Turkey, the company restricted tweets at the behest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of a critical election. Musk defended both decisions on the grounds that X had no choice but to comply.

In fact, as of a year ago, Rest of World reported that the company had not refused a single censorship request since Musk took over.

In recent days, however, he has dug in for a high-stakes battle in Brazil that shows he is willing to take a stand against foreign governments if the speech of right-wing activists is at stake.

The standoff is over orders from Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to block a number of accounts for spreading anti-democratic ideas that undermine the Brazilian democratic state. As my colleagues Niha Masih and Mara Luisa Pal reported, those include far-right figures allied with former president Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters stormed Brazilian government buildings on Jan. 8, 2023, following Bolsonaros electoral defeat.

On Saturday, Musk posted on X that the platform was defying those orders and lifting all restrictions on the accounts in question. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil, Musk wrote, referring to Moraes. As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.

As foreign markets go, Brazil is no small potatoes. It is one of Xs largest markets outside the United States, and it plays a similar role there, with politicians and activists using it as a megaphone and water cooler to debate public issues. So Musk really is risking Xs business. But where did those principles come from all of a sudden?

Musks showdown with Brazils Moraes comes after a Twitter Files installment that detailed how Moraes and other Brazilian officials pressured social media companies to remove content.

As I wrote when Musks handpicked journalists began publishing the Twitter Files in late 2022, they have helped Musk justify his takeover of Twitter by casting him as a crusader exposing the censorship of the companys previous leadership. Focusing almost exclusively on content moderation against conservatives, they have also helped endear him to Republicans, providing them fodder with which to sue the Biden administration and pressure disinformation researchers.

For Musk and his backers on the right, Brazil presents a parallel scenario in which a liberal government is trying to hold its populist-right predecessor to account for attempting to subvert a democratic election.

Still, Musks own credo would seem to imply that he should be complying with Brazils laws.

In Musks 2022 defining of free speech, he added that If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Brazils laws do in fact allow for government restrictions on certain kinds of speech. The country became a democracy only in 1985, after decades of authoritarian rule, and its leaders regard that democracy as fragile especially in the wake of the 2023 insurrection, which was fueled partly via social media. Accordingly, for better or worse, the country is now cracking down on speech it deems a threat to that democracy.

One can argue those laws go too far or give the government too much power to silence its opposition, said Thiago de Arago, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who advises companies on risks in Latin America. But he said its hard to see Musks stand as principled, given how he has gone about it.

It would be more understandable if he had exhausted all legal means and lost, de Arago said. Instead hes beginning from the end by publicly defying the orders and even calling Moraes a dictator who has Brazils president on a leash.

That suggests Musks real motive is to provoke a confrontation that serves his own ends, de Arago said.

Personally, I believe he actually wants very much for Moraes to ban [X] at least temporarily, because that would crown and legitimate his narrative that hes a champion of free speech.

Thats all for today thank you so much for joining us! Make sure to tell others to subscribe toThe Technology 202 here. Get in touch with Cristiano (via email or social media) and Will (via email or social media) for tips, feedback or greetings!

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Elon Musk picks his speech battle - The Washington Post - The Washington Post