And it revealed, past bearing on the X proprietor’s use of medication resembling ketamine, the billionaire’s contradictory, complicated definitions of “news,” and even a comparability of the platform’s customers to the video video games he’s so famously keen on.
Musk began the interview by calling the platform “the number one source of news in the world … there’s nothing even close for real-time news,” earlier than seeming to right himself and saying that X dominates as a platform for “information.”
Roughly half-hour later, Musk was singing a unique tune. “I think the media is not truthful,” he instructed Lemon, including that he doesn’t imagine most readers ought to hearken to what the media says. (The media prides itself on citing major sources and utilizing specialists, reporters and editors to contextualize what’s and isn’t recognized.) Even later, he provided a unique definition of the kind of content material on X, likening the consumer interactions on the platform to the “hardcore, player versus player” fashion of video video games.
Lemon repeatedly grilled Musk on his stance as a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist–however, he’s been censoring accounts of journalists who’ve reported on him for years, drew an ambiguous line within the sand between free speech and hate speech, and has allowed misinformation to achieve traction on the platform—one thing Musk and Lemon additionally clashed on within the interview.
Musk on censorship, content material moderation and solely taking down unlawful content material
When confronted by Lemon on his report on content material moderation, Musk responded that “moderation is a propaganda word for censorship.”
In the course of the interview, he mentioned his perception that individuals needs to be allowed to say something that the legislation permits them to say on his platform. Lemon identified that hate speech, which is generally protected by the law, goes in opposition to X’s community guidelines.
“If something is illegal, obviously we will remove it,” Musk mentioned, earlier than sidestepping the difficulty once more: “Laws are put in place by the people, and we adhere to those laws. If you go beyond the law, you’re actually going beyond the will of the people.”
Debating what constitutes censorship
Musk confronted Lemon at occasions, too, accusing him of being pro-censorship within the context of eradicating hate speech that is probably not technically unlawful. But Musk has an extended report of censoring the accounts of journalists, which the European Fee has deemed to be a violation of the EU’s Digital Providers Act. The legislation simply went into effect in February, offering pointers for content material moderation and carrying a fine for firms as much as 6% of worldwide income. In a tweet, the fee’s president said that in censoring the journalists, Musk had crossed “red lines” and warned of sanctions quickly.
Her warning got here a day after X suspended over two dozen accounts, together with one which belongs to Jack Sweeney, the faculty pupil behind @elonjet, an account that tracks Musk’s personal jet. The journalists who had been barred, together with CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan; The New York Instances’ Ryan Mac; and The Washington Put up’s Drew Harwell, had all reported on Musk’s determination to droop Sweeney.
In response, Musk claimed that accounts concerned with monitoring his personal jets amounted to “doxxing,” or sharing private data to embolden harassers.
In January, Musk had suspended a wave of high-profile journalists together with the Texas Observer’s Steven Monacelli and The Intercept’s Ken Klippenstein.
Monacelli had recently wrote a number of crucial experiences on Musk and X; and Klippenstein had reported on Musk’s AI discussions with the Israeli army on its marketing campaign in Gaza. The journalists obtained no clarification for his or her elimination, and lots of the accounts had been reinstated that afternoon.
