Buying Twitter, Elon Musk Will Face Reality of His Free-Speech Talk – The New York Times

Successive generations of Twitter s leaders since its founding in 2006 have learned what Mark Zuckerberg and most other internet executives have also discovered: Declaring that the tweets must flow, as the Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote in 2011, or I believe in giving people a voice, as Mr. Zuckerberg said in a 2019 speech, is easy to say but hard to live up to.

Soon, Mr. Musk will be the one confronting the gap between an idealized view of free speech and the zillion tough decisions that must be made to let everyone have a say.

His agreement to buy Twitter puts the combative billionaire, who is also the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, at the white-hot center of the global free-speech debate. Mr. Musk has not been specific about his plans once he becomes Twitter s owner, but he has bristled when the company has removed posts and barred users, and has said Twitter should be a haven for unfettered expression within the bounds of the law.

via www.nytimes.com

It’s true enough. But there’s a big difference between moderating speech when you believe in free speech, and when you don’t.