Elon Musk’s biography, written by Walter Isaacson, delves into the period when Musk started working at Twitter (now known as X). He instructed his employees to search for chat history on Slack of other employees to see if any of them were speaking negatively about him behind his back. The keyword used for the search was “Elon.” Consequently, those employees were promptly fired.
Musk has previously declared that he supports “Free Speech Absolutist,” and his decision to acquire X was intended to create a space for diverse opinions to be exchanged. However, in July, X faced a lawsuit from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit organization that seeks to control online hate speech. CCDH reported that the X platform was filled with dangerous content. In response, X argued that CCDH selectively picked inappropriate posts, making it challenging for potential advertisers to commit.
Musk also blamed the decrease of advertisement sales by 60% on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a civil rights organization that protested against advertisements last November. This happened after Musk recalled accounts belonging to Donald Trump. Subsequently, Musk implemented a new policy for his employees, stating that objecting to advertisements would be equivalent to censorship. If they encountered content related to censorship, they would be able to ban it immediately.
TLDR: Elon Musk’s biography reveals his commitment to free speech and desire to create a platform for diverse ideas. However, his involvement with X faced legal challenges and criticism from organizations such as CCDH and ADL, affecting advertisement sales and prompting Musk to enact a new policy against censorship.
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