Elon Musk Mulls Over Creating Own Social Media Says Twitter Curtails 'Free Speech'

Elon Musk is a prolific user of Twitter himself but recently he believes that the platform doesn't follow free speech anymore. He has been critical of social media and its policies of late.

Elon Musk (Image Source: AFP)

New Delhi: Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is 'seriously' considering starting his own social media because he believes that Twitter doesn't "adhere to free speech principle". He began a poll on Twitter to ask his followers whether Twitter respect free speech and over 70% of 2,035,924 voters said no.

In the following tweet, he said that the consequences of this poll would be important and asked the voters "to be careful when they vote".

Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.

Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022

After the poll ended, he tweeted, "Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?" 

Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.

What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022

Could this be just a way to introduce a new social media platform? Elon Musk is a prolific user of Twitter himself but recently he believes that the platform doesn't follow free speech anymore. He has been critical of social media and its policies of late.

This began after a Twitter user asked the Tesla CEO, whether he would consider building a social media platform consisting of an open-source algorithm and one that would prioritize free speech, and where propaganda was minimal.

Am giving serious thought to this

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2022

If Musk decides to go ahead with creating a new platform, he would be joining companies that position themselves as champions of free speech and which hope to draw users who feel their views are suppressed on platforms such as Twitter, Meta Platform's Facebook and Alphabet-owned Google's YouTube.