Elon Musk Deletes Tweet: Is He Going Against His Own Agenda Of Free Speech?

Elon Musk has regularly called out Twitter and its management for being heavy-handed with free speech and liberal with censorship. It appears Musk too could be indulging in such activities on Twitter despite openly opposing them. The "Chief Twit" on Sunday posted a tweet and later deleted it. The tweet contained a link to an article on a website with questionable repute. These actions have not only raised questions about Musk's free speech agenda, but also about the type of content that would be allowed on Twitter, under his leadership.

Elon Musk Posts Content From A Low-Credibility Source

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has more than 100 million followers. This puts immense pressure on Musk now that he is not just a popular tweeter. However, within just 72 hours of acquiring Twitter, Musk shared a post from a website with a poor reputation. Presumably realizing he posted questionable and possibly fake or misleading information, Musk deleted the tweet.

The series of events began with Musk's response to a tweet from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ms. Clinton had tweeted about the attack on the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at their San Francisco home. She blamed the attack on the Republican Party and accused the "mouthpieces" of spreading hate.

Ms. Clinton linked an article from the LA Times which was about David Wayne DePape. The 42-year-old is the primary accused suspected of assaulting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi. DePape allegedly attacked Paul with a hammer inside Pelosi's San Francisco home on Friday.

Musk responded with: "there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story". He linked an opinion article in the Santa Monica Observer.

Musk Deletes His Own Tweet But Raises Multiple Questions

The article that Musk linked in his tweet, as a response to Ms. Clinton's allegations, contained opinions and was devoid of any evidence. It cited no sources, and instead, merely stated, "IMHO", which stands for "in my humble opinion."

As expected, Musk's tweet drew quick and intense backlash. There were multiple issues with Musk's response. It was pure conjecture. The content he linked was baseless. Moreover, it was from a website that has a poor reputation and is known to produce opinion pieces.

Musk is no stranger to courting controversies on Twitter. However, he is now the owner of Twitter, and as such, has immense responsibility. Musk had famously indicated that he wants Twitter to protect free speech. However, had also assured advertisers that Twitter won't be "a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!"

Needless to mention, Musk's now-deleted tweet could have violated his own policies. Incidentally, Twitter could soon get a "Content Moderation Council". Even this council could have taken objection to Musk's tweet because of the content.

It is important to note that Musk's now-deleted tweet doesn't explicitly break Twitter's current rules primarily because it was framed as a question and not as a direct counterargument or accusation. Musk never claimed he was stating any facts. Musk may have played it safe, but still attached questionable content, and that raises doubt about his actions.