Whoopsies! "Free speech absolutist" "accidentally" suspends the accounts of journalists who are critical of him, and people whose political views he disagrees with.
He seems to have quite the habit of firing or banning people he disagrees with, doesn't he?
Via Gizmodo:
"X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, purged an unknown number of prominent accounts over the last 24 hours with little to no explanation, and then restored the accounts minutes after this article was published.
"The list includes popular accounts belonging to journalists, writers, and podcasters. Among them are Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, Texas Observer correspondent Steven Monacelli, the account for TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast, and a number of others.
"One thing the accounts have in common is recent criticisms of the Israeli government.
...
"Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” has previously said no one should be banned from X unless they break the law.
"Update, 1:12 p.m.: Shortly after this article was published, Musk responded to a question about the issue from far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle. Musk promised to investigate, and the accounts went back up soon after. Musk later blamed the “mistake” on X’s spam algorithms. The Hamas account is still suspended."
"Free speech absolutist" allegedly fires employee for raising security concerns.
Apparently Elon's version of free speech doesn't extend to employees who raise concerns about information security:
"Alan Rosa, who was Twitter’s global head of information security, filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday in New Jersey federal court, alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and retaliation, among other claims. X Corp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Rosa claims that late last year, after Musk acquired the company, he was told to cut his department’s budget for physical security by 50%...
"Rosa says he objected because the cuts would put Twitter at risk of violating a $150m settlement it entered into earlier in 2022 with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which claimed Twitter had misused users’ personal information. The agreement required Twitter to implement privacy and information security controls to protect confidential data.
"He was fired days after raising those concerns, according to the lawsuit. Rosa is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and legal fees."
It’s a shame that people like Elon are associated with the “free speech” movement. The right to free speech is something people fought and died for, and have risked their lives to protect decade on decade. It’s a gift previous generations have given to us. And now it’s almost seen as a dirty word. Which is exactly what those in power want.
Free speech and an unrestrained press protects all of us from government over-reach, it is a primary defense against the growth of fascism, it is the engine that drives the next stage of social and cultural evolution. Ideas considered abhorrent now may be commonplace in the future. Think of what people would had said if you had advocated for legal homosexuality in the 1950s, you’d be right if you’d think they’d use any exemption possible in free speech protections to try and throw you in jail, in fact they did, and people are calling for less free speech than we had then.
You are a human. It should be a universal human right to think whatever you want to think and say whatever you want to say, and the government has no place putting anything other than extremely clear and limited restrictions on it. Society is free to punish you, but it’s a power we cannot hand over to the government.
Elon's "extremely hardcore" toxic work culture means people are forced to take Adderall without a prescription to meet their workload. Just ask SpaceX employees.
"Some SpaceX workers resorted to taking Adderall to keep up with the pace of work at the company's launch facility, and others found themselves falling asleep in the bathroom during long workweeks, a recent Reuters investigation found.
"Travis Carson, a former SpaceX worker at the company's facility in Brownsville, Texas, told Reuters some workers took Adderall — a stimulant designed to help people with ADHD improve their focus and concentration levels — without a prescription to keep up with the pace of work."
Methamphetamine is serotonergic. Adderall is not. Methamphetamine tends to induce psychosis that makes the user hostile and dangerous. Adderall certainly can, but the chances of that happening are hardly comparable. There are numerous valid reasons why meth has an extreme stigma and Adderall does not. Attempting to infect Adderall with that stigma makes life so much harder for people like me who can’t function without taking it. People ought to be precise with their language when they talk about things they understand, and they ought to be silent about things they don’t understand. Other than to ask questions to attempt to understand of course, but how often does that happen?
Elon lied about the monkeys — and he shouldn't be trusted to put his Neuralink chips in human brains.
"They are claiming they are going to put a safe device on the market, and that's why you should invest," Ryan Merkley at the Physicians Committee, told Wired. "And we see his lie as a way to whitewash what happened in these exploratory studies."
Really heartbreaking reading what happened to the monkeys.
People quite rightly think of Elizabeth Holmes as a fraud for making false medical claims about what the Theranos machines could do. So why aren't Elon's claims at Neuralink being held to the same level of scrutiny?
Prominent "free-speech absolutist" threatens to sue Jewish anti-hate group because it engaged in free speech he didn't like.
"Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League after accusing the civil rights group that campaigns against antisemitism and bigotry of trying to “kill” his X social media platform.
"The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, said the ADL was trying to shut down his company by 'falsely accusing it and me of being antisemitic'."
If your list of enemies includes the ADL, then there's a more-than-reasonable chance that you're an anti-semite.
That’s true. I’m unemployed, I’d probably take a job working for him. Doubt it would last long because I have a dumb mouth that can’t stay shut when it should
Annie, are you okay? So, Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie? Annie, are you okay? So, Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie? Annie, are you okay? So, Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie? Annie, are you okay? So, Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?