On March 25, technology entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk took to Twitter to tell his nearly 80 million followers that free speech is essential to a functioning democracy before asking, “Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
Musk posted the inquiry as a Twitter poll, with options of “yes” or “no.” Of the more than 2 million people who answered the survey, 70.4% responded, “no,” they did not believe Twitter lives up to the free speech principle Musk described.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy; what should be done?” Musk tweeted once he discovered the results.
“Is a new platform needed?” Musk asked.
There is little question that Twitter is Musk’s favorite social network. However, he took to the platform to criticize it, expressing his belief that the site restricts free speech.
Twitter’s Help Page has a selection named “Defending and respecting the rights of people using our service.”
“Defending and respecting the user’s voice is one of our core values at Twitter,” the page states. “This value is a two-part commitment to freedom of expression and privacy. Transparency is also an important part of this commitment.”
According to Twitter, the above statement is a global commitment, and while it is based on the United States Bill of Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, it is informed by a variety of other sources, including members of the social platform’s Trust and Safety Council, relationships with advocates and activists around the world, and works such as the United Nations Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
The amendment is commonly brought up in arguments about censorship.
“The First Amendment, the United States Constitution, only protects us from government censorship, not censorship by private entities, such as Twitter, or Facebook or other social media platforms,” Clay Calvert, a law professor at the University of Florida who leads the Brechner First Amendment Project, told News 4 Jacksonville.
Calvert’s comments came on the heels of then U.S. President Donald Trump being permanently banned from Twitter in 2021. Twitter claimed Trump posed a risk for violence following the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6. Trump was also banned from Facebook, CNBC reports.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the tweet stated.
In June of 2021, Facebook announced it may reinstate Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in January of 2023, according to CNBC. As for Twitter, the former president remains permanently banned.
Critics wondered why Trump had been banned from Twitter while accounts for Taliban leaders, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are allowed to remain on the social networking platform.
“Khamenei has repeatedly made tweets inciting violence towards both the U.S. and Israel,” Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn wrote. “In July (2020), he vowed that the Iranian regime will seek revenge against the U.S. after the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.”
Since then, Trump has started his own social media platform — Truth Social — which states its purpose is to be “America’s ‘Big Tent’ social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology.” In February of this year, Newsweek reported the site reached 500,000 users in the first 48 hours after its launch.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced,” Trump said when announcing plans to launch Truth Social.
According to Mediaite, by March 21, Trump had only posted on his platform once, on February 21, when he commented, “Get ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!”
Around the time Trump was banned from social media, his son, Donald Jr., took to social media and asked Musk to start a new social network.
In a video posted on Instagram, Trump Jr asked Musk to “help save free speech,” saying that “if Elon Musk can privately send people into space, I’m sure he can design a social network that isn’t biased. I think there’s a lot of Americans that would love that and support it wholeheartedly,” according to Yahoo Finance.
On March 25, Musk flirted with the idea.
Musk, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2021 and the CEO of SpaceX and Telsa — who has also personally challenged the Russian President on Twitter to a battle deciding the fate of Ukraine — asked his Twitter followers, “Is a new platform needed?” and then did not broach the subject again on his Twitter account.
Instead, on March 28, he tweeted he “supposedly” has COVID-19 again and then posted a meme of a wife and husband arguing about using Google Maps.
If Musk is planning to start his own social platform to rival Twitter, he seems to be keeping that news to himself.