Locals weigh in on Twitter, Elon Musk, and freedom of speech

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Locals are weighing in on Twitter’s sale to Elon Musk for $44 billion.

Musk said one of his main goals is to loosen free speech on the platform, wanting to only disallow what the platform is by law required to ban.

Twitter’s terms of services say it bans harassment, abuse, posts that express a wish to physically harm someone, and certain misinformation posts, especially those relating to COVID-19.

While some look forward to the freedom, others wonder whether Musk’s definition of free speech will shift when it comes to crime.

“As Elon moves forward, I hope you see individuals who have been banned from the platform move back to the platform,” said Luke Ball, CEO of a local social media company called RightLife.  “I hope that you see tweets that have been rendered as inappropriate for the site, I think the users should have the opportunity to decide whether or not a post is inappropriate or not.”

“The reality of freedom of speech and something he probably will learn very quickly is that it’s not a black and white type of thing,” said UNCW Associate Communications Professor, Jennifer Brubaker. “To say freedom of speech, it doesn’t entail the same thing if you’re talking about a terrorist organization as somebody complaining about their local school board. Those are very different scenarios.”

Musk says in addition to loosening free speech, he wants to add an edit button to tweets and get rid of bots.