Freedom, the New Mainstream

“The bird is freed” after Musk’s Twitter takeover
By Henry Haden, ‘25

Last week, Elon Musk officially took the reins at Twitter. The 51-year-old South African tech magnate is set to steer a new course for the free speech movement. Over the past two years, Twitter and other social media platforms have attempted to silence users and posts which violate their “community guidelines.” This comes as part of a larger movement not to eliminate actual criminal activity on social media but political views unaligned with progressive dogma.

In one of Musk’s first moves at Twitter, he fired Vijaya Gadde, the now former policy head at Twitter. Gadde oversaw some of Twitter’s most notorious acts of political censorship including that of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden exposé and Donald Trump’s suspension. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey chalked the censorship of the Biden exposé up to a “process error.” The files which would be found on Hunter Biden’s laptop could have proved influential for voters in the 2020 election. However, the syndication of this story was impacted by Twitter.

Unfortunately, the New York Post’s article on Hunter Biden would not be the last instance of political censorship by Twitter. As the 2020 election passed, many politicians and citizens voiced concerns over election integrity and the role of potentially unconstitutional changes in election protocols. Promptly, social media sites like Twitter began flagging these posts.

Suppression is key to maintaining a narrative. With compelling facts, research, and evidence, people should be able to make sound judgments. Authoritarian leaders like Xi Jinping of the Chinese Communist Party need censorship to consolidate power around them, impairing the ability of a free press to criticize the many horrific aspects of the regime not limited to the Uyghur genocide.

There was a free press in America, and, in many ways, there still is. However, to claim a fully free press today denies the reality that, according to Pew Research, nearly half of Americans consume news through social media. Further, the American media is hardly fair and impartial, but, in theory, a diverse source of outlets can ensure that stories are covered. The greater problem today lies in the fact that social media platforms are far from impartial and are frankly partisan.

The most prominent example of recent censorship domestically was the suspension of President Donald Trump’s Twitter account for violating “the Twitter rules.” On their blog page, employees of Twitter defended the suspension because of “the risk of further incitement of violence.” They describe their public interest framework as existing “to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.” However, for Twitter inflammatory rhetoric was enough to justify depriving hundreds of millions of people of the ability to hear from the leader of the most powerful, free nation on Earth. Here are the two tweets Twitter cited as problematic:

On January 8, 2021, Trump tweeted, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

Shortly after, he tweeted, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Most alarming is how Twitter determined these messages – which followed a rally where the former President told supporters to “peacefully and patriotically” protest – incited violence. Twitter assessed these tweets under their “Glorification of Violence” policy, insisting that the phrase “American Patriots” in the first tweet supported those storming the US Capital. This would form part of a greater false narrative that all Trump voters and Republicans supported the actions of some 2,000 people.

Twitter also interpreted the statement that Trump voters would have a “giant voice long into the future” as a further sign of Trump’s intention not to facilitate an orderly transition. These assumptions by Twitter were, of course, ridiculous. Indeed, Trump left office before President Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021.

Alluding to another presidential run, Trump clearly indicates that an enduring political legacy was what he meant by his movement having a “voice long into the future.” None of the hypothetical events speculated by Twitter occurred, and yet they refused to allow Trump back on the platform. To this day, the Supreme Leader of Iran remains on Twitter, yet Trump’s account still is suspended.

Far more pertinent to Elon Musk was the suspension of the political satire account, The Babylon Bee. On March 15th, The Babylon Bee posted a satirical post on Twitter claiming that “The Babylon Bee’s Man of the Year is Rachel Levine,” the transgender US Assistant Secretary for Health. Shortly after the post, Twitter locked The Babylon Bee out of its account for violating Twitter rules. The Babylon Bee clearly states in its Twitter bio that it is “fake news.” Further, their website claims to be the “world’s best satire site.” The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said that the account would be restored in 12 hours but only on the condition that The Babylon Bee deleted the post. Refusing to do so, The Babylon Bee has not posted on Twitter since.

Before this incident, Musk appeared on The Babylon Bee podcast. Musk said he “used to be a fan of The Onion but that The Onion just seems to have gotten politically correct.” Musk criticized The Onion – a left-leaning satire page – for not making fun of “anything on the left.” He concluded that when comedy “stops trying to get at an essential truth, then it is not that funny.”

Twitter censorship was highly concentrated on “disinformation” posts throughout the COVID pandemic. More recently, social issues have been at the forefront as prominent conservative influencers like Jordan B. Petersen have received suspensions for violating progressive social norms. Some suspended Twitter users such as Donald Trump flocked to new alternative social media sources such as Truth Social or Gettr. Before the imminent midterms, Twitter posted a blog titled “Our Approach to the 2022 US Midterms.” The post discussed updates to the app, among which was a pledge to combat “misinformation.”

An America divided into different political echo chambers is hardly constructive for rectifying problems of division. Elon Musk acknowledges this. Here is part of the statement he put out directed toward advertisers: 

The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.

In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.

Will Musk’s efforts end a divided sphere of public discourse? Will Americans benefit from a greater realization of freedom of speech? Will Musk live up to his promises? Only time will tell.

The opinions expressed in this magazine are the author's own and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Spectator, or any students or other contributors associated with the magazine. It is the intention of The Spectator to promote student thought and civil discourse, and it is our hope to maintain that civility in all discussions.