Elon Musk doesn’t grok Twitter

He’s taking over, but will his free-speech absolutism make life harder for the rest of us?

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made.

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(Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

I’ve spent a few days digesting the fact that (white, billionaire cis-man) Elon Musk is buying Twitter. Mostly that he’s vowing to allow anyone to say anything they want on there — he’s a free-speech absolutist. As someone who has spent more than a decade being sexually harassed and threatened on Twitter and other platforms, this throws me for a loop. I’m very much in favor of the First Amendment and allowing all free speech (unlike Germany and other countries that prohibit hate speech), but I’m also tired of fending off jerks/evil humans. Elon Musk may get hate mail/tweets, but he has no idea what the rest of us go through.

So, for years, I’ve been enjoying the benefit of the (still-lacking) mechanisms of reporting that Twitter supports. Sometimes, they’ve blocked my trolls. Other times, however, they’ve allowed them free reign — including David Duke, a well-known white supremacist.