Brazil’s decision to block the X network and thus punish its owner Elon Musk has rekindled an important debate. Should we accept all the actions of the richest person on the planet and owner of a major social network?
Let us recall that Brazil decided to block the X network after the suspension order of the Brazilian Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes. The judge criticized Elon Musk for not having appointed a representative of the X network in Brazil as a responsible interlocutor in the country. “Elon Musk has shown his total lack of respect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, by setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” said the judge.
The question arises: should we accept this increasingly active role that Elon Musk is playing in politics, both in Brazil and in the United States and elsewhere on the planet?
Earlier this year, the European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, wrote to Musk demanding that he comply with EU laws against amplifying harmful content “that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence or certain instances of disinformation.” In response, Musk offered a meme in which he literally told Breton to “fuck off.” (“And literally, fuck your own face!” ») In this dispute, Donald Trump took the side of Elon Musk, his new ally in the American election campaign, by also denouncing the laws of the European Union.
A personal definition of freedom of expression
In fact, Elon Musk is now firing broadsides at anything that moves and goes against his very personal definition of freedom of expression. A definition that could be described as “extreme”.
With his definition, radical far-right groups can go there with their racist, homophobic, anti-feminist and anti-democratic speeches. Last year, he had reintegrated the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones into his network. He is the one who had accused anti-gun groups in the United States of having invented the Sandy Hook massacre, which left 26 dead, including 20 children, in a Connecticut elementary school in 2012. The court had ordered him to pay heavy compensation to the families of the victims of the massacre.
Closer to home, Elon Musk has attacked Canadian laws that seek to regulate the activities of web giants. He has attacked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau several times, which is legitimate in a democracy. But he called him Hitler, which is not acceptable, and he was criticized for it.
What you have to understand is that Elon Musk has decided to support and associate himself with all authoritarian regimes, in Europe, in Turkey, in Argentina. In Brazil, he has sided with Jair Bolsonaro against the president-elect, Lula da Silva.
More recently, he denounced the new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, for intervening against racist rioters who were violently attacking migrants in the United Kingdom and against people who deliberately spread hateful remarks on social networks. All this was contrary to freedom of expression as defined by Elon Musk.
But his defense of freedom of expression is just hypocrisy since he accepts demands for censorship in China (in exchange for exemptions for Tesla!)1Erdoğan in Türkiye and Putin in Russia.
In Brazil, in his bias in favor of former President Bolsonaro, he gave complete freedom on his X network to those who deliberately fabricated disinformation and launched calls for violence against the Brazilian government.
Should Elon Musk be punished for challenging the laws of Brazil, the European Union, the United Kingdom or, who knows, Canada?
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote in the Guardian : “Elon Musk is out of control. Here’s how to get him under control.” “He may be the richest man in the world, but that doesn’t mean we’re powerless to stop him,” he said.2.
Possible retaliation
Among the retaliatory measures, Robert Reich is calling on consumers to boycott Tesla cars, for advertisers to stop advertising on its X network, and for the U.S. government to stop doing business with its rocket and satellite company SpaceX. He is also calling on all governments to vigorously enforce all laws that counter defamation, hate speech, and organized disinformation.
For my part, I believe that the Canadian government should adopt this position in order to reprimand and sanction, if necessary, Elon Musk. The latter is the richest person on the planet and, as such, he believes himself to be above states, laws and their governments. “I am the strongest,” he taunts everyone.
In an essay to be published this fall, Standing up to the web giants – A democratic requirementthis is my call. There is no reason to accept such affronts to our democratic institutions and our rule of law. Web giants, such as Elon Musk, seek to dominate the world by establishing their rules of the game. We must not accept this. We must stand up to them.
1. Read “What if China used Tesla to force Elon Musk to censor Twitter?”
2. Read “Elon Musk is out of control. Here is how to rein him in”
What do you think? Join the dialogue