X owner Elon Musk highlighted the importance of preserving free speech globally explaining how individuals can be “imprisoned or killed” if they speak out against their respective countries’ ruling authority.
Musk sounded the alarm during a special Sept. 10 interview with All-In podcast hosts Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg. “They spoke about free speech, with Musk cautioning, “There is like, this weird movement to quell free speech, kind of around the world, and this is something we should be very concerned about.”
Citing the Framers and free speech, Musk continued, “You have to ask yourself, why was the First Amendment, like, a high priority? It’s because people came from countries where if you spoke freely, you’d be imprisoned or killed—and they’re like, ‘Well, we’d like to not have that here because that was horrible.’”
Sacks added to the conversation, remarking “We knew there were authoritarian places around the world, but we thought that in the West, we’d have freedom of speech, and we’ve seen like you said, it seems like a global movement. In Britain, you’ve got teenagers being put in prison for memes.” Agreeing with Sacks, Musk alluded to the recent French arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France, on Aug. 25 as an example of this global censorship.
Related: Musk, Rumble CEO Condemn Global Assault on Free Speech as Telegram CEO Arrested in France
Expanding on this point, Musk responded, “If a country's laws are a particular way and … we think we are being asked to break them and be silent about it then obviously that is no good.” He went on to say, “I think any given thing we do at X corp, we’ve got to be able to explain in light of day, and not feel it was dishonorable or we did the wrong thing.”
Calacanis shared Musk’s concern, remarking, “I'm a bit concerned, as your friend that you’re going to go to one of these countries and I’m going to wake up one day and you’re going to get arrested and like, I'm going to have to go bail you out or something like this is… feels very acute.”
Calacanis continued to share the cause of his concern, inquisitively asking Musk about a Guardian journalist suggesting Musk be jailed. Musk answered, directly, “There have been three articles, in the past three weeks. … calling for me to be imprisoned.”
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Calacanis concernedly responded, “The premise here is, that you bought this thing, this online forum or communication forum, and you're allowing people to use it to express themselves, therefore you have to be jailed? I don't understand the logic here.”
Musk responded to Calacanis's remark saying the issue is that if governments “do not like the truth, they want to suppress it.”
The infamous articles by The Guardian urging the incarceration of Musk include an op-ed written by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and headlined, “Elon Musk is out of control. Here is how to reign him in.”
The other pieces were written by Guardian Reporter Carole Cadwallad (“Racism, misogyny, lies: How did X become so full of hatred? And is it ethical to keep using it?”) and Columnist Zoe Williams (“Don’t rejoice yet, Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for truth”).
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