Freedom of expression or growing hate and racism on Elon Musk’s social media platform X!
Asad Mirza
www.asiantribune.net
The seemingly eccentric comments by X’s owner Elon Musk, have brought the issue of freedom of expression as well as hate speech to the fore.
Not demonizing, targeting or hurting others is also an important aspect in public life. The speech that is bordering on hate can’t be responsible free speech and limit of such a free speech can not be dictated by one individual.
Musk’s comments bewildered people across the world. His latest tirade was against British prime minister as well as King Charles III, whom he advised to shutdown Parliament and call for a new election, regarding handling of criminal investigations in Manchester. “In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the
Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for police to charge suspects. Who was head of CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008 -2013,” Musk posted on his social media platform X on New Year.
“The King must step in. We can’t have Keir heading the country,” he added in the thread.
Given the recent salvos by Musk, many social media users questioned the philosophy dominating Musk’s social media platform, as it seems to reward those who spread seeds of hate or force one-sided views. It was not the intention of creators of this platform.
UK politicians are not alone in being the target of Musk’s increasingly eccentric interventions. He has also called Justin Trudeau of Canada, “an insufferable tool” and attacked Ukraine’s Zelensky after a Trump Putin spat. Apart from commenting on the US govt’s Visa policy and other issues, his tweets appear to be targeting entire groups.
During the last two years of Musk’s ownership of X, people noticed that it has become a sort of a platform, on which users with right wing or extreme right-wing leanings are getting more liberty to criticize their opponents, in the name of freedom of expression.
This leads to another pertinent question that can you by virtue of ownership try to force own views, and throttle the voice of people who do not agree with you?
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