Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to criticizing Big Tech censorship, and in a follow-up to last week’s hit on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire offered an ominous warning to those cheering what adds-up to be political suppression.
History is replete with those who didn’t see the locomotive barreling down the track right at them, and the business magnate responded to what appears to be a purge of conservative Americans who supported President Donald Trump.
Replying to a tweet of a satirical article from The Onion, titled “Evil Fascist Dictator Censored and Voted Out Of Office,” Musk warned about allowing Big Tech to control speech.
“A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech,” he tweeted.
A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2021
In a textbook example of taking advantage of a crisis, Big Tech is going after many on the right, following last week’s protest, claiming they are inciting violence.
They also targeted Parler, which was shut down entirely after Amazon rescinded its web-hosting service. The free-speech platform the left bills as a pro-Trump site was also removed from app stores by Google and Apple.
On the day Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a protest that got out of hand, Musk “seemingly tied the origins of Zuckerberg’s Facebook to the mob,” as Fox News assessed his tweet.
“This is called the domino effect,” he tweeted, alongside a meme depicting a stack of tiles lined up like dominos.
This is called the domino effect pic.twitter.com/qpbEW54RvM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
The smallest tile featured a caption that reads, “a website to rate women on campus.”
As the network reported, this was a reference to Facebook’s predecessor, FaceMash, which Zuckerberg developed in 2003 to let people judge their classmates’ looks.
After Twitter permanently banned the President of the United States last week, Musk urged the platform’s users to “use Signal,” an encrypted messaging app that’s funded by a nonprofit organization.
Back in June, Musk called for Amazon to be broken up after it blocked the sale of a book on coronavirus lockdowns by former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, titled Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns.
Time to break up Amazon. Monopolies are wrong!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2020
Amazon would soon relent and allow the book to be sold on its website.
Here’s a sampling of responses to Musk’s latest slam on Big Tech from Twitter:
This is an important distinction
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 12, 2021
Why don’t you buy a high tech company and set up a free speech platform …….hell – buy out Twitter and just replace their management team
— John Betts (@JohnFromCranber) January 11, 2021
Please Elon start a new internet infrastructure that protects free speech and doesn’t just harvest our information for nefarious purposes. You have the means to do this and the market exists for it.
— Doggomuffin (@Doggomuffin1) January 11, 2021
I want a secure, decentralized, blockchain-based, uncensorable social media platform that protects free speech… but that doesn’t allow actual terrorists to share recipes for genetically engineered bioweapons.
I have no earthly idea how we can do that, but we need it.
— Geoffrey Miller (@primalpoly) January 11, 2021
Agreed.
Big tech needs more competition.👏
— Elisa Martinez (@elisa1121) January 11, 2021
Elon is only billionaire against lockdowns and censorship. Hope others follow the suit.
— EY (@ednixe) January 11, 2021
Yup. Our speech is now going to be controlled by Silicone Valley. “First they came for the conservatives…”
— Jake (@iadd25) January 11, 2021
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
