Unleashing The Bird: The Complications of Free Speech in Musk’s Twitter Takeover

“The bird is freed” - Elon Musk, 10.27.22

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, recently became the controlling stakeholder of Twitter, with the $44 billion deal closing in late October following many lawsuits and significant controversy. On the night of Musk's acquisition, he fired four of Twitter's top executives. Since then, Twitter has laid off roughly half of the company's employees. Most terminated workers learned about their employment status via email, with some international employees finding out in the middle of their night. Chris Younie, who worked in entertainment partnerships at Twitter, sarcastically tweeted, "But so grateful this is happening at 3am. Really appreciate the thoughtfulness on the timing front guys." The haphazard terminations indicate the rapid and drastic changes that Musk intends to implement without consideration of the general population, similar to his free speech initiatives.

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter granted him control over one of the most prominent social media platforms. Musk, sharing "the bird is freed" after the deal's closing, made it evident that he intends for Twitter to operate as a free-speech platform. The debate regarding private companies, mainly social media companies, support of the first amendment is longstanding and complex. These companies have their own right to free speech that sometimes competes with their users' right to freely express themselves, which they argue extends to the expression on one of these companies' platforms. As a self-described "free speech absolutist," Musk plans on revoking some of Twitter's community guidelines regarding the content of posts and comments. Before Musk's takeover, numerous Twitter users disapproved of the company's policies to censor information, claiming that Twitter's standards and algorithm violated free speech and targeted conservative political opinion. However, detractors view Musk's conception of free speech as overly simplistic, with his approach differing from the one pursued by former CEO Jack Dorsey, who implemented measures to label false information and prohibit the misgendering of transgender people. Critics further denounce Musk's free-speech absolutism as promoting harmful speech and misinformation, which promises severe negative political and economic implications.

Musk argues that his policy rollbacks align with the constitutional protection of free speech, tweeting that "by 'free speech,' I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law… going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people." Musk has made his stance clear that reducing the regulation of Twitter posts is constitutionally complicit. His position is that if people want greater restrictions, they should make use of America's democratic system and take the proper measures to amend the Constitution. With Musk's policy rollbacks, Twitter can serve as a platform for all to freely share ideas and opinions.

Pursuant to his attempts to increase Twitter's revenue, Musk released a plan to allow users to receive the blue verification check mark for $7.99 a month. Previously, this checkmark identified that the account legitimately belonged to notable users. However, Musk viewed this separation between verified and unverified users as creating a group whose speech is more valued than others, potentially challenging the principles of free speech. Apple's App Store note announcing the ability for ordinary users to purchase verification checkmarks stated, "Power to the people: Your account will get a blue check mark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow." However, Musk's initiative to dismantle the separation between ordinary accounts and verified users to bolster free speech had significant consequences as accounts began to impersonate noteworthy users, like politicians or companies, and spread misinformation. On November 10th, an account impersonating the insulin company Eli Lilly (LLY) tweeted, "we are excited to announce insulin is free now." The misleading tweet caused the company to lose more than $15 billion in market capitalization.

Musk's takeover and revocation of the platform's policies also have political implications, as Musk recently reinstated former President Trump's account. Following former President Donald Trump's announcement of a third presidential run, the re-activation of his Twitter account has allowed for renewed levels of internet exposure for the controversial figure. Before his account was banned following the January 6th insurrection in 2021, Trump was known for his active presence on the social media platform. Musk clarified that he does not support banning accounts unless they are spam accounts or bots. When asked about Trump in an interview, Musk stated that permanent bans "fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion." However, others asserted that Trump's tweets were hateful and furthered the spread of misinformation.

Unbanning certain accounts and revoking post restrictions could potentially result in more harm than good. Critics of Elon Musk disapprove of his "free-speech" initiatives, claiming that they promote the spread of disinformation and hate speech. The effects of disinformation and misinformation on Twitter are already apparent; for example, the first thing that appears when searching "climate" on Twitter is "#CLIMATESCAM." Further, the use of racial slurs and offensive language on the platform skyrocketed following Musk's takeover. For example, a study conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found, "in the week beginning October 31st, the first full week under Musk's ownership, there were 26,228 tweets and retweets…triple the 2022 average" that included the use of a heinous racial slur against Black people. As our country experiences increasingly intense political polarization and an influx of hate speech, measures to protect individuals from fake information and hurtful speech have become extremely important.

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter revealed the complicated line between upholding free speech and protecting public safety. Private social media platforms like Twitter are not public forums and can impose restrictions on users' posts. However, free and open speech is necessary to advance our society. New ideas and advancements take hold by challenging the existing narrative and presenting differing viewpoints. Nevertheless, limitless speech can spread harmful or dangerous ideas, such as hate speech or misinformation, that damage society. Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter exposed the delicate balance between supporting free expression and ensuring the safety of the public.