Elon Musk said X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, would sue organizations funded by financier George Soros that allegedly pushed for a crackdown on free speech.
Musk, who bought Twitter last year as a pledge to turn the platform into a bastion of free speech, said in a publish to X on August 23 that he agrees with the opinion expressed by investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger that NGOs funded by George Soros have falsely claimed that “hate incidents” are on the rise in order to push for restrictions on free expression
“Politicians and NGOs funded by George Soros say ‘hate incidents’ are increasing, but they are not,” wrote Mr. Shellenberger in his publication. “The data shows the opposite: higher than ever and growing levels of tolerance for minorities. The reason they are spreading hateful disinformation is to justify a draconian crackdown on free speech.”
Mr. Musk reacted to the post by noting his agreement and vowing to sue.
“Exactly,” wrote Mr. Musk. “X is going to file legal action to stop this. I can’t wait for the discovery to begin!”
In making his statement, Mr. Shellenberger shared an article by Irish journalist Ben Scallan, who wrote that NGOs supported by the Open Society Foundations (which was founded by Mr. Soros), are pushing a “censorship agenda” in Ireland and Scotland that includes the police. searches for homes and personal devices such as homes.
The article of Mr. Scallan does not specify which Soros-funded NGOs are allegedly committed to pushing a “censorship agenda.” Neither Mr. Shellenberger nor Mr. Musk.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Open Society Foundations with a request for comment on Mr. Musk.
More details
The article of Mr. Scallan says Irish leaders, including Justice Minister Helen McEntee, have said hate crimes are on the rise in Ireland. They aim a 29% increase in hate crimes in 2022 compared to the previous year.
However, Mr. Scallan argues that an increase in the reporting of hate crimes does not necessarily mean an actual increase in hate crimes, in part because the threshold for classifying something as a hate crime is low, requiring little proof beyond someone’s statement.
He wrote that the police and the government in Ireland have been urging people to report hate incidents for years, and the police have set themselves the goal of increasing the number of hate crimes reported, which may have contributed to the increase in hate crimes.
The reporter also highlighted research indicating that people today are more likely to label things as “harmful” and “hateful” than in the past, suggesting a broader cultural shift in perceptions of what constitutes a crime of this type.
Mr. Scallan, who is a mixed-race Irish journalist, said there was no good evidence to support the claim that there had been an increase in hate crime in Ireland, particularly against migrants.
He argues that the increased emphasis on hate speech could serve as a pretext for the Irish government push to promulgate strict hate speech laws, which would criminalize the possession of “hateful material” and impose penalties for refusing to provide device passwords to authorities.
The proposed law (pdf), called the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hate and Hate Crimes) Bill 2022, has been criticized for potentially restricting freedom of expression and reversing the burden of proof, placing the onus on accused to prove their innocence.
Mrs McEntee, the Irish Prime Minister, has advocated for the move.
“It is hard to believe that despite increasing cases of hate crime and general public support for criminalizing such acts, Ireland still has no hate crime laws and will be one of the last countries in Europe to enact such legislation” . she he said in a speech in mid-June.
Although Ireland has had legislation against hate speech in place for nearly 35 years, Ms. McEntee said it has been “ineffective, limited and largely discredited”.
“We have a responsibility, as lawmakers, to do everything we can to provide a safe, just and inclusive country for all,” he said while claiming the legislation has been “subject to deliberate misinformation and distortion, even by part of fringe commentators and US. social media-based personalities.”
“Will teasing memes be tolerated?”
During the recent debate on the bill in the Irish Senate in June, independent senator Ronan Mullen questioned whether the law would go too far, for example by punishing people for discussing gender identity.
“Will teasing memes be tolerated?” he asked, according to British news outlet The Telegraph.
“Carrying a banner that says ‘Men Can’t Breastfeed’ will warrant a hate speech investigation or up to five years in prison, a lifelong label as a criminal hater and all the stigma and limitation of life that does that entail? No one really knows,” he said, according to the publication.
Ireland’s Department of Justice told The Telegraph that the threshold for prosecution under the proposed law would be “very high” and that “criminal incitement to hatred will not be an area where anyone walks away by accident”.
The threat of legal action from Mr. Musk comes after X filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), alleging that the nonprofit was engaged in a “scare campaign to drive advertisers away” from the platform by making false or misleading claims about the amount of content on X who allegedly “incited hatred”. “
The last comments of Mr. Musk’s comments about putting Soros-funded NGOs in his crosshairs for legal action follow critical comments he made about the billionaire financier, who has been a common target of right-wing criticism.
Soros as ‘Magneto’
In a recent interview with Mr. Musk, CNBC reporter David Faber pressed the Tesla boss on a controversial tweet comparing Mr. Soros with the Magneto comic book archivist.
“He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity,” Musk told a his tweet.
Asked about this during the interview in mid-May, Mr. Musk said he stood by that view and suggested the backlash to his posting of his views is overblown.
“Calm down people, we’re not doing a federal case,” said Mr. Musk about the online outrage expressed by the tweet in some circles.
Pressed about whether he hadn’t considered the impact of his controversial tweets on the bottom lines of the companies he runs (since advertisers might balk), Mr. Musk said he refuses to be silenced by the threat of declining profits.
“I will say what I want, and if the consequence of that is to lose money, so be it,” he said in the interview with Mr. Faber.
“That’s free speech,” replied Mr. Musk. “It allows me to say what I want to say.”
During the interview, Mr. Faber, more generally, challenged the finality of Mr. Musk for publishing controversial views.
“You make some tweets that appear to be … conspiracy theories,” Mr. Faber in the interview.
“Well, yes, but I mean honestly…some of these conspiracy theories have turned out to be true,” replied Mr. Musk. “Like the Hunter Biden laptop.”
After Mr. Faber admitted that this was “true,” Mr. Musk explained the scandalous deletion of the Hunter Biden laptop story by Twitter and other social media platforms.
“This was very important … Twitter and others engaged in acts of suppression of information that was relevant to the public. This is a terrible thing that happened. This is election interference,” he said.
survey proved that a staggering 79 percent of voters said they think President Donald Trump would have won re-election in 2020 if voters had been aware of the truth that the Hunter Biden laptop was true and not “Russian disinformation,” as it suggest a group of former intelligence community professionals. in a controversial open letter that was widely circulated by the left-wing media, which pushed the narrative that the laptop was fake.
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