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1 year ago

first amendment government media social media

Elon Musk v. censorship?
By Terry A. Hurlbut
Is Elon Musk polishing an apple on the subject of Internet censorship? That’s hard to say. But sincere or not, he is calling attention to censorship, not only on social media but on the part of official government organs. And these aren’t the government organs one normally imagines – like the old Soviet Wire Service, or TASS. These are organs of so-called “liberal democracies,” specifically National Public Radio (NPR) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, or Beeb). And by calling them out, Elon Musk has brought the explicit advocates of censorship out of hiding.
Elon Musk labels NPR
First, ElonMusk took on NPR, by labeling them “State affiliated media.” NPR protested,
https://twitter.com/axios/status/1643655976401109005
and several leftist Twitter users defended the organ and demanded that Musk take down the label.
https://twitter.com/DKThomp/status/1643594456967282688
Not only did he refuse, but he substituted an even more deprecatory label: “Government funded media.” Yesterday Musk pointed out that NPR themselves said that “federal funding is essential to public ratio” ten years ago.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1646228701984747521
We now learn that NPR’s correspondents are quitting Twitter in yet another protest.
https://twitter.com/NickForVA/status/1646245538814382080
In reply, Musk called for the de-funding of NPR.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1646225313503019009
This caused some interesting back-and-forth.
https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1646226955807670272
https://twitter.com/DevonGleason/status/1646248790687621120
The Beeb has a more strident defender
Early yesterday, Elon Musk took on another target: the Beeb. Or rather, the Beeb took him on – and lost.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1646055951819223040
That reporter was James Clayton, technology reporter for BBC North America. In this interview,
https://twitter.com/CensoredMen/status/1646075238378098688
Clayton charged that Twitter, since Musk took over, now had more “hate speech” and anti-Semitic remarks than before. Clayton cited the Institute for Strategic Dialogue – more on them below. But when Elon Musk challenge Clayton to cite a single example of hate speech on Twitter, Clayton could not. Whereupon Musk said,
So you just lied.
Several YouTube influencers caught that moment. Herewith a sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqJKAnN0-gM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr9ggNVBaOw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVUTQXzP3so
Michael Shellenberger dropped this thread summarizing the interview:
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646147913058500608
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646149893386391556
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646151636274782213
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646152833299873792
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646157947091787783
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646159306125979648
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646160960330031104
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646163790709366786
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646178533407096832
The ISD reacted in anger. Herewith their thread:
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1646163101278957569
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1646163225866534913
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1646163313846366208
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1646163384604262400
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1646163463134216194
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1646163513759481857
The last tweet embeds the anchor tweet of their earlier thread in which they accused Elon Musk of “whitewashing” hate speech.
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1638511907442249731
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1638512933041831936
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1638513007834669056
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1638513117687603202
https://twitter.com/ISDglobal/status/1638513166538735619
After that, Mr. Shellenberger rounded on them in this thread:
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646179475837845506
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646180821857087491
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646187066949271552
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646187880430309376
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1646188740698845189
In reaction, one user pointed out that the ISD has State Department funding.
https://twitter.com/RobDonwow/status/1646203356753412106
Another accused them of lying about protests against COVID lockdowns, like the Ottawa Freedom Convoy:
https://twitter.com/RealAndyLeeShow/status/1646198824837451776
Analysis
An apple polisher is, classically, a pupil who curries favor with his teacher with showy, manipulative displays of loyalty. More broadly it is one who curries favor with any others through such displays, which typically are insincere.
Is Elon Musk polishing an apple? CNAV still notices that he has troublemakers among the moderators. Nor has he decided to settle Laura Loomer’s RICO lawsuit against Twitter.
Nevertheless, he has called attention to the censorship at, and the liberal bent of, two government funded organs. Again, these are organs of so-called liberal democratic governments. Yet they definitely behave like the old Telegrafnoye Agyenstvo Sovyetskiy Soyuz – TASS – literally, the Soviet Wire Service. (The only reason the Russian Federation Wire Service still calls itself TASS is historic.) And, like bullies, they don’t like to see someone call them out.
Will the Beeb quit Twitter, as NPR has threatened to do? Stay tuned. Whatever their decision, Elon Musk has done the world a service this week.
Link to:
The article:
https://cnav.news/2023/04/13/editorial/talk/elon-musk-v-censorship/