Elon Musk Stands Up for Free Speech on X, Even If It Costs Money

Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X (which used to be called Twitter), recently spoke at a big event called the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. He talked about how X handles advertisements and free speech. Musk said that free speech is more important than making money.

What Musk Said About Advertisers

Musk understands that companies want their ads to appear next to content that fits well with their brand. He said this is okay, but he doesn’t like it when advertisers try to control what other people can say about X. Musk believes that advertisers shouldn’t demand that X remove content just because they disagree with it.

X Is Trying To Be Safer For Brands

X is trying to be safer for brands by providing easy methods to compare duplication scores and determine if the duplication measure changes for different sample sets of music.

X’s rivals became uncomfortable with the type of things that people were posting and some big companies put an end to advertising on X. Musk noted that X has been active in efforts to improve the platform to make it safer for brands. This means they’re attempting to calm the advertiser’s nerves in regards to placing ads on X.

Musk’s Analysis

What sets Musk apart is that he very rarely holds back on what he thinks or feels, more so when it gets him into trouble. He understands that many of them may make him look ridiculous as he sometimes “shoots himself in the foot”. Musk believes that it is more valuable to stay genuine and not censor one’s words. He also goes on to say that maintaining your tongue check makes you not genuine in society.

Musk also wanted everyone to understand he would not accept money from X to censor content. He topicalizes that it would be unfair to shut people up merely because an advertiser offers them money to keep them shut. Musk’s view is that choice is very important and he goes to great lengths to ensure freedoms are protected on X.

Changes at X to Boost Business

Musk and Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, are trying to make the advertising business on X better. They’re doing this by partnering with video companies to bring new content to the platform. This could make X more attractive to advertisers.

Plans for an “Everything App”

Musk has even better plans for X; he wants to transform it into what he has dubbed an “everything app”. What this means is even though X will facilitate posting messages and viewing advertisements. Musk also wants X to perform the role of payment services as well so that will help people to send money or even buy a product.

Balancing Free Speech And Business

Musk’s talk praised that X is worthy of free speech rather than a monetary benefit. This is rather daring since many social media platforms will go to great lengths to accommodate the demands of the advertisers, in this case, even if it is the suppression of free speech. Musk is in trouble since he wants freedom of speech as well as have a successful business and these two do not always go hand in hand.