When “freedom of speech” has a good rear. Elon Musk, already distinguished by his dislike of public health measures against Covid-19, decided to abandon the fight against misinformation about the virus. On the menu: stopping moderation of problematic content and restoring accounts previously banned for posting such fake news. Twitter’s new boss announced that as of Wednesday, November 23, “Twitter is no longer enforcing rules regarding misleading information about Covid-19.” But this time, the controversial billionaire didn’t announce it loud and clear on his Twitter account, he contented himself with announcing it in a brief press release issued Tuesday night by the American press.
In recent years, the social network has made notable efforts against misinformation about the virus, like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The platform specifically decided to report and delete posts containing fake news about Covid vaccines, and then block the accounts in question after five warnings. “We believe this alert system will help inform the public about our policies and better reduce the spread of potentially harmful or misleading information on Twitter,” the social network said in March 2021.
But in his absolute take on freedom of expression, Elon Musk has never made a secret of his opinion about the health restrictions imposed during the pandemic, especially when they meant the temporary closure of his Tesla plant in California. “Telling people that they cannot leave their homes and that they will be arrested if they do is fascism. It’s not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their fucking freedom,” he enthused in April 2020.
Upon his arrival at the helm of Twitter and between the two provocations, Elon Musk tried to reassure observers and advertisers who feared an outbreak of toxic content, hate speech and disinformation. The mogul reiterated that the platform’s rules have not changed and that suspended accounts will not be reinstated until a content moderation committee is set up.
Waste of time: many brands fled, and Elon Musk, feeling betrayed, took action. He launched polls on his profile, reflecting, in his words, the “voice of the people”, and reset the profile of former President Donald Trump (suspended in January 2021 for inciting violence). According to specialist newsletter Platformer, the fiery leader also asked the remaining engineers in the state to restore about 62,000 accounts banned for repeated violations.