Elon Musk: A Free Speech Fake

Billionaire Elon Musk has touted his identity of being a “free speech absolutist” since taking over the social media giant Twitter as the company’s new CEO, but Musk’s opinion of what does or does not constitute as “free speech” seems to only be regulated by Musk himself: according to Musk, a 20-year-old college student is the last straw.

On November 6, Elon Musk tweeted that he is so “committed” to free speech he would not ban an account tracking his private plane, called @elonjet - even if it was a “direct personal safety risk” to himself.

However, that promise has been broken with Musk not only banning the Twitter account of university student Jack Sweeney, who was using publicly available tracking information for his Twitter account, but has announced he is taking “legal action” against Sweeney and “organizations who supported harm to my family.”

What Musk is referring to, and what prompted him to ban Sweeney from Twitter, was an incident involving a stalker who followed a car carrying his baby whom he shares with musical artist Grimes (he also has seven other children with various partners).

The stalker, Musk claims, blocked the car from moving and then jumped on its hood. Musk apparently blames Sweeney for the actions of a separate person, and has used the incident as an excuse to ban the 20-year-old’s account.

"By 'free speech', I simply mean that which matches the law," Musk tweeted a little over a month ago. "I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law."

But what Sweeney did isn’t illegal. And what’s more: Sweeney had been told by an anonymous Twitter employee that his account had been shadow-banned earlier this month, long before Musk decided to suspend Sweeney’s account.

So was the “stalker” incident a moment which genuinely threatens a wide variety of people (not just the uber-rich who can afford the luxury of private jet airfare), or was it an opportune moment to shut down a pesky Twitter user who the billionaire has long held a grudge against?