Elon Musk’s anticipated acquisition of Twitter and his stated intention to lift the platform’s permanent ban on former President Donald Trump is sending a major ripple across America’s endless speech wars.
Who gets to say what and where has always been a contentious issue in our country. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, the courts have come down clearly in favor of free speech. No matter how controversial or vile someone’s words may be, the government may not silence them in First Amendment jurisprudence.
The issue is more difficult to adjudicate in the cultural realm. Social media platforms – privately owned companies that have every right to censor or edit – have nonetheless encountered myriad problems effectively moderating content, leaving them open to allegations of political bias. Indeed, Mr. Musk said Twitter, based in San Francisco, has shown bias against conservatives in its decisions to permanently ban certain individuals.
In this episode of History As It Happens, Lynn Greenky, an expert on political and legal discourse at Syracuse University, said upholding free speech as a cultural norm is important during this fractious moment in American society, but Mr. Musk might run into trouble if he decides to turn Twitter into a free-for-all.
“He says he wants to open up Twitter to the constitutional boundaries [of free speech]. I think he is in for a rude awakening. There is going to be a lot of garbage. There is going to be a lot of misinformation. … There are going to be a lot of conspiracy theories floating all around,” said Ms. Greenky, the author of “When Freedom Speaks: The Boundaries and Boundlessness of Our First Amendment Right.”
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have banned misinformation and disinformation surrounding the 2020 election and the coronavirus pandemic, but those bans had no apparent effect in, for instance, debunking the false claim that the election was stolen.
To listen to the full interview with Lynn Greenky, download this episode of History As It Happens.
