Rapper and podcaster Zuby interviewed Elon Musk and the pair discussed the crucial need for free speech in a well-functioning democracy.
During the over-hour-long interview, a determined Musk doubled down on his intent to protect freedom of speech on Twitter. He also emphasized the importance of the First Amendment for a functioning democracy and declared that, “We have to have at least one platform that you can count on that is maximum truth-seeking and that’s what the goal is here with X [Corp]/Twitter is maximum truth-seeking, really allowing voices to be heard.”
Musk highlighted to the “wisdom of the First Amendment” in allowing disfavored speech. “Free speech is only relevant if we allow people that you don’t like to say things that you don’t like, otherwise it loses all meaning and at least in the U.S. the First Amendment is pointless,” he said. “If you don’t let people you don’t like say things that [you] don’t like and you censor them, it’s only a matter of time before that censorship is turned upon you.”
Zuby noted that in “so-called liberal democracies” in the West free speech has been “pushed to the side and marginalized.” He added that when Musk bought Twitter “people were not afraid that they would be censored, but they were afraid that their opposition, especially people more on the right side of the aisle, would not be censored.”
The podcaster asked how society came to this point to which Musk pointed out the disturbing reality of what those who oppose free speech are really asking for. “You want censorship? You want information to be withheld from the public even though it is fully legal?” a passionate Musk asked. “Effectively what they are saying is that they want the public to be misled and uninformed of all sides of the issue. That’s obviously morally wrong.”
Real Talk with Zuby Podcast Ep. 263 - @ElonMusk
— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) June 17, 2023
I sat down with the owner of Twitter / CEO of Tesla & SpaceX to discuss the future of human civilisation, social media, free speech, aliens, AI, Neuralink, fatherhood, and more!
*Twitter exclusive. Ad-supported pic.twitter.com/z0jebwHOV7
When Zuby asked why he bought Twitter, Musk pointed to his concerns of censorship and its effect on elections and a functioning society. “How are people in a democracy supposed to make the right decision if they don’t have the right information, if they are being misled, or if misinformation is being withheld, which obviously was the case in the infamous Hunter Biden laptop situation? Everyone knows about that but there are thousands of other smaller situations,” he said. Musk later added that in his view, “In order to have a solid bedrock for democracy, and frankly even if the country is not strictly speaking a democracy, it’s still good for people to know what’s going on.”
Musk also mentioned how Big Tech companies can subtly use censorship to “put their thumb on the scale of elections worldwide.”
He specifically called out Google search censorship. “Frankly Google’s [censorship] might be the most pernicious in that it’s very easy for them to slightly de-rank a search so it’s on page like 4 or 5 if you are looking for something and nobody ever goes there. So, it’s not gone, it’s just not on page one,” Musk said. “The old joke used to be ‘What’s the best place to hide a dead body, would be the second page of Google Search results.’ Nobody ever goes there.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and senators and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
