Why they all hate Elon Musk

The enemies of free speech had counted on powerful friends to censor their opponents. Then the CEO of Tesla entered the fray…

We might describe it as MDS, or “Musk Derangement Syndrome”. It has reached new heights in recent days, with Musk taking on the UK Prime Minister - aka “two-tier Keir” - for his determination to crack down on online speech. That the CEO of X refuses to kowtow to demands from politicians to heighten censorship on his platform is a source of great dismay for those of an authoritarian mindset.

Earlier this week, the EU’s social media guru Thierry Breton published a letter in which he warned Musk against the “amplification of potentially harmful content”. True to form, Musk replied with a provocative meme:

Musk Derangement Syndrome really began in earnest when he first acquired the platform in October 2022. We can all remember the chorus of flouncing celebrities who announced their departure on the grounds that Musk’s influence would transform Twitter into a hateful cesspit. Because of course we all that know that before his takeover Twitter was some kind of idyllic digital picnic site for only the fluffiest of teddy bears.

But this was nothing compared to the media response. In The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel wrote that “there is, both inside and outside the company, an apocalyptic feel to the ordeal”. And then there was this from Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz:

But the award for the most histrionic response has to go to The Independent, that publication that used to be a newspaper and has since turned into an adolescent online blog for soft-witted conformists…

In this article, the author describes Elon Musk as a “right-wing radical” and claims that his takeover of Twitter “will bring nothing but the demise of democracy”. One must have a heart of stone to read it without laughing.