Jack White has kept up with Elon Musk’s Twitter regime – and has some harsh words about it. On Friday, the “Love Is Blindness” musician shared his thoughts on Musk’s allowing certain individuals (read: Donald Trump, neo-Nazis) and certain hatred (read: anti-Semitism, white supremacy) on his platform.
“So Elon, how’s this going with ‘freedom of speech’?” wrote White, who left Twitter last month, on Instagram. “Oh I see, so you have to CHOOSE who gets free speech and who doesn’t? What kind of crybaby liberal overrides someone’s freedom of speech? hmmm…”
White shared screenshots of Kanye West’s suspended account — it came after the rapper tweeted a swastika and Musk said it violated a Twitter rule about inciting violence. White also shared a screenshot of a tweet from Musk, saying he wouldn’t let Alex Jones back on the platform as he “has no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for… fame.”
“Conspiracy liar Alex Jones doesn’t get ‘freedom of speech’ either? Aha. So you’re learning these people incite violence and hatred, but Trump…DOESN’T DO THIS?” he tweeted. (White previously said he left Twitter because of Musk’s decision to let the former president back on the platform.) “Or is it because liar Jones and anti-Semitic egomaniac Kanye can’t give tax breaks to billionaires like the former president could? ”
“Or that perhaps those responsible for this ‘free speech’ will be personally insulted?” White continued with the rhetorical questions. “It’s nice to watch in real time how you learn that all things need to be regulated, be it guns, drugs, alcohol, gatherings or speeches because there is a risk of someone or something getting hurt or destroyed. They are sometimes called ‘laws’.”
White pulled Musk further, saying the billionaire would likely learn “how damaging it can be to let dangerous, hateful people say whatever they want on your stage.” White closed comments on his post, making such a decision a point because he “can regulate the platforms that I control.”
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“Do the right thing, Elon, and don’t give other hate mongers a stage, let them talk [the] Town Square,” he ended his tirade. “And no, Twitter is not a government-owned town square, it’s a private company owned by Elon Musk.”
White had originally explained his decision to leave Twitter in a similarly lengthy Instagram post dedicated to Musk in November, accusing the Tesla owner of giving a platform back to “known liars” like Trump while he was restoring Trump’s account referred to as “an asshole train”. ”
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Musk returned his account to Trump after more than 15 million people reportedly voted in a Twitter poll, with 51.8 percent suggesting the former president’s account should be restored. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk wrote of his decision. (A Twitter insider recently told Rolling Stone that Twitter polls are being plagued by bots.)
“This isn’t ‘free speech’ or ‘what the poll decided’ or whatever nonsense you claim it is; This is right up there with you trying to help a fascist have a platform so you can eventually get your tax breaks,” White wrote. “I mean, how many more billions do you need that you have to risk democracy yourself to get it?”