Follow this authorMax Boot's opinions

Musk is unlikely to have any more success with his lawsuit against Media Matters for America, a nonprofit that documented pro-Nazi posts on X alongside ads for major companies, leading to an exodus of advertisers. Indeed, Musk, who styles himself as a “free speech absolutist,” appears to be using legal action simply to intimidate critics into silence.

Musk’s claims that his platform isn’t spewing hate speech and conspiracy theories are undermined by the fact that he is one of the chief spewers. On his X account, which has 176 million followers, Musk has boosted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which holds that prominent Democrats are child molesters. He has endorsed a tweet suggesting that graduates of historically black colleges have low IQs and therefore U.S. airlines are risking disaster by recruiting them as pilots. (“It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of DIE,” Musk wrote in January, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, usually abbreviated as DEI.) He has echoed Donald Trump’s unfounded assertions that the electoral system is riddled with fraud; for instance, Musk claimed that “illegals are not prevented from voting in federal elections.” In fact, only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections and there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

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Musk’s modus operandi, like Trump’s, is not to retract or apologize for false statements but, instead, to insult his critics; he memorably told advertisers who have left X to “go f--- yourself.” One of the few times Musk has expressed any remorse was after he endorsed an antisemitic screed in November. An X user accused “Jewish communities” of promoting “hatred against whites” and added gleefully that “western Jewish populations” were “coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities … flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.” Musk’s response: “You have said the actual truth.” After advertisers fled and the White House condemned “this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate,” Musk said, “I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and to those who are antisemitic and for that I am quite sorry.”

Yet within weeks of this apology, Musk was back to promoting the “great replacement theory” that liberal elites are plotting to change the character of the country by flooding it with non-White immigrants from the Global South. On March 5, Musk, himself an immigrant, tweeted “this administration is both importing voters and creating a national security threat from unvetted illegal immigrants. It is highly probable that the groundwork is being laid for something far worse than 9/11.” In another unhinged post that day, he accused Biden of treason for supposedly “importing voters.”

Musk also freely expresses unsettling opinions about foreign policy. Echoing the standard MAGA line, he recently argued against sending more U.S. aid to Ukraine because “there is no way in hell” Russia can lose and “prolonging the war does not help Ukraine.” (Does allowing Russia to win help Ukraine?) In 2022, Musk released a pro-Putin “peace plan” for Ukraine that would have granted Crimea to Russia and held referendums on the future of Russian-occupied provinces.

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The same year, Musk suggested making Taiwan a “special administrative zone” of China — a move that would lead to the destruction of Taiwan’s democracy. While Musk is a vitriolic critic of “woke” censorship in the United States, he is silent about China’s far more grievous censorship and other human rights violations. No doubt it’s just a coincidence that Tesla has a giant factory in Shanghai producing roughly half of its global vehicle deliveries.

Musk, to be sure, is entitled to freedom of speech, and many other people also promote racist conspiracy........

© Washington Post