Meet the new Twitter boss, same as the old Twitter boss

Yes, Musk did say that former President Donald Trump could return to Twitter. And he ended a policy pertaining to COVID-19 misinformation. But he’s also cracked down on parody accounts and said anyone doing parody must label it as such not only in their bio but in their Twitter handle. He’s kicked off people for parodying him, and for a number of other questionable reasons. Now he’s suspended Ye on a very broad reading of incitement to violence claims.

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(“If anyone can get inside his head, I’d love to hear it,” Corbin Barthold of TechFreedom told The New York Times recently. “He seems to shift from free-speech absolutism until he decides he doesn’t like something.”)

People can argue over whether Musk’s various moderation moves are reasonable for a major, mainstream social media site to make. But they are definitely not the moves of an unwavering defender of free speech. Rather, they reflect trade-offs between a commitment to free speech and to other values and concerns.

For all the billionaire’s bravado about doing things differently, it turns out Musk’s Twitter is…a lot like old Twitter.

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