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by rocket_surgeron 1279 days ago
You are correct in that this is not a free speech issue. Private organizations can control what is said on their platform.

You are 100% incorrect in that free speech is not, has never been, and will never be limited to political preferences/opinions.

Commercial, frivolous, inconsequential, satirical, and all other forms of free and independent thought are "speech".

"Drink more Ovaltine" is speech the same way "slavery is bad" is speech. These two disparate utterances are equally important and protected as "speech".

"I like big butts and I cannot lie" is speech as important as a treatise on political theory.

The comment you replied to lampoons Musk's "free speech absolutist" schtick. A nuance you have failed to appreciate.

What hasn't been noted here, yet, as far as I can tell, is that the EU prohibits this type of behavior (banning mentions of competitors) and it will be interesting to see how they respond. But that's an antitrust matter, not free speech.

1 comments

Well, in the context of Musk's entire public premise for buying Twitter being to provide an at-scale safe haven for online free speech, it absolutely is a free speech issue.