X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk says the platform should be for moderate Americans, not just leftists.
The All In Podcast, which is hosted by David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg, posted an interview they did with Elon Musk at the All In Summit. During the interview, Musk noted that, in the past, social media has all been “very left-leaning to far left-leaning,” suspending Republicans far more than leftists. He also expressed his goal of changing that online monopoly. The X owner and billionaire said that “The suspensions of several Republican candidates, interests, or voices were at least ten times the rate of—suppression of left-wing voices.” He also expressed his goal of changing that online monopoly and allowing free speech for people of all political stripes. His comments, however, come amidst new censorship policies on X, including an increased emphasis on freedom of speech, not reach.
Musk specifically addressed the accusation that he is somehow making Twitter a right-wing conspiracy morass. “[Our goal with] the X platform is really meant to be a level playing field, a public square that is supportive of…most of the country, the middle 80%,” he said. Musk noted that before he bought the platform “Social media ha[d been] very left-leaning to far left-leaning, and really Twitter was far-left leaning.”
He continued: “The suspensions of several Republican candidates, interests, or voices were at least ten times the rate of—suppression of left-wing voices on, you know, [the] old Twitter.”
Musk insisted “what I’m trying to do is move [X] to the middle. Which from the standpoint of the left, [it] appears it is moving to the right…if you’re standing on the left.” That, however, is simply the left’s perception, according to Musk. “But it's not. [X is] simply moving to the middle in an attempt to actually represent the whole country and not just, you know, half the country or even maybe less than half the country,” he asserted.
He did not address the fact that anti-woke individuals are still censored on Twitter, nor X’s new special censorship measures heading into the 2024 election.
“There's really nothing to be alarmed about here,” Musk concluded, returning to his previous aspiration to make Twitter/X a digital town square of free speech for all. “It's just that it’s intended to be a town square inclusive of the whole country and also, you know, the world. That's all.”
Musk’s X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who has an anti-free speech track record, recently boasted about censoring content on the platform to please woke advertisers. “[I]f you’re going to post something that is lawful but it’s awful, you get labeled,” she said. While Musk regularly speaks about the importance of free speech, he continues to allow censorship on X. In the interview, he also seemed to endorse propaganda from the anti-free speech Chinese Communist Party.
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