Elon Musk: "If This Isn’t a Violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, What Is?"
It definitely WAS a violation.
A common misunderstanding among some people is that the 1st Amendment protects free speech for Americans. In reality, the 1st Amendment prevents GOVERNMENT from stifling free speech. Lords of a domain are able to regulate speech within their own domain. For example, a private business owner can prohibit cursing on their property and the 1st Amendment would not apply.
This has been the common argument by those who have defended censorship on "platforms" such as Twitter. That argument has been countered in recent months with revelations that government prompted Twitter to engage in quashing certain ideas. Last night's "Twitter Files" completely obliterated the argument forever.
As Elon Musk noted:
If this isn’t a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, what is?
He elaborated:
Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is
The real question is whether there will be repercussions. At Twitter itself, there already have been. But the real deviants in this whole mess are the government officials who annihilated their oath to defend the Constitution by ripping it to shreds for political gain.
I don't agree. Yes, the gov't cannot coerce or pay or intimidate or use any other method to sway or demand silence on a particular subject. But you're looking at it from a narrow definition of 'free speech'. You're either free to speak on any subject, or you're not. Twitter or any other open forum should be considered the same level as a newspaper or, a soapbox or any medium designed to provide information that our gov't cannot limit. You want to experience 'free speech? Go to GAB.com for a sample. A lot of what's there is trash, vulgar language, anti-Semitic, anti-black etc. But YOU and I have the God given right to say it. If you don't like what you read, ignore it, delete it, block it and so on, just as I do. You might even try to persuade them to see the other side, as is your right to freely discuss. But to limit what Elon is now doing,... is wrong.
Biden campaign and the DNC are not the government. The Trump White House is the government. Why was the Trump White House asking Twitter to censor citizens.
10.Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However: