Three tweets that capture Elon Musk’s entire Free Speech Con

of the a story in three acts dept

We spent years shouting what a hypocrite Elon Musk is when it comes to freedom of speech. But sometimes the universe Elon hands you a gift: three tweets in the space of just over a week that demonstrate the entire scam more clearly than any deep dive ever could. Let’s start with this one:

That’s Elon announcing the following:

Falsely labeling non-violent people as ‘fascist’ or ‘Nazi’ should be treated as incitement to murder

That is, to be clear, an extremely anti-free speech position. It is an extremely censorious position.

Yes, thanks to freedom of speech you can call someone a Nazi. As the ACLU has written: There is no such thing as the right not to be called a Nazi. There are plenty of court cases in which this has been made clear by judges. Here it is only one:

Statements that identify a political opponent as a Nazi or a coward are “appalling and abhorrent” and far too common in today’s political discourse. But it is not actionable defamation “because of the vast imprecision of the meaning and use of such terms in the realm of political debate.” In other words, being called a Nazi or a coward are not verifiable statements of fact that would support a claim of defamation.

So we already see that Elon is taking an anti-freedom of speech position with that tweet. Political exaggeration, even of the Nazi type, is protected speech. Always has been.

Keep that tweet in mind as we move on to the next one.

Because Elon Musk quite clearly falsely called the EU Commission (which just fined him) this weekend… Nazis.

If you can’t tell, it’s Elon retweeting someone who posted an image of the EU flag being pulled back to reveal a Nazi flag. The original poster reads “The Fourth Reich” and Elon’s tweet reads, “Pretty much.”

So, let’s recap: Falsely calling non-violent people Nazis is “incitement to murder” according to Elon and yet here he is… falsely calling non-violent people Nazis. Just a week after that original statement.

And then there’s the third act that ties everything together. I know he’s said this before in similar forms, but this weekend he also claimed that the “sure way to find out who the bad guys are is to see who wants to restrict free speech.”

So, um, yeah. Just a week after Elon says that labeling a non-violent person a Nazi should be considered “incitement to murder” (an inherent attempt to suppress the speech of critics), he claims that the easiest way to find out who “the bad guys” are is to see who wants to suppress the speech.

By Elon’s own standard: he’s the bad guy. He says we must suppress the statements of those who call him a Nazi. And that’s why he’s a bad guy. According to its own logic.

The pattern is clear. Elon’s entire disjointed “free speech” framework collapses into a single coherent principle: speech I like is protected, speech I don’t like should be punished. He wants the freedom to call the European Commission Nazis. He wants to criminalize anyone who calls him that. He proclaims that those who restrict speech are “the bad guys,” while at the same time arguing that calling him a Nazi should be treated as incitement to murder – a serious restriction of speech. And when he or his allies do real Nazi-like stuff? Well, you better not say anything about it, otherwise you’ll incite violence.

This is what happens when someone who has never understood the actual principles of free speech tries to dress up as a free speech absolutist. The mask doesn’t just slide off; it falls away completely, and all that is left is the naked self-interest beneath it.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, defamation, elon musk, eu, freedom of speech, hypocrisy, hypocrite, sedition, nazi

Companies: x