Jeffrey Wernick

Twitter once described itself as: “The free speech wing of the free speech party.” Twitter 1.0. Jack Dorsey regime. I think it is fair to say that Twitter abandoned the free speech party. Or maybe it takes about 6 hours or so to read their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to truly appreciate the principles of the free speech wing of the free speech party. Apparently, the First Amendment is not sufficiently clear as a guiding principle for free speech. Much too confusing for the free speech wing of the free speech party to just say that it will not abridge the freedom of speech. Much too confusing.  Needs several thousands of words to clarify.

Then a savior appeared. The free speech absolutist, Elon Musk. Soon free speech absolutism got redefined as meaning freedom of speech but not freedom of reach. If you are an idiot or moron then maybe you believe that freedom of speech can co-exist without freedom of reach. Yes. You can drop your mail at the Post Office but that does not obligate the post office to actually deliver it. Only to receive it. Maybe the Post Office can throttle or shadow ban your mail. Freedom of speech but not freedom of reach.  

But Elon Musk is so cool. He builds electric cars, spaceships and satellites. And even smokes weed on podcasts. So clearly that must be very profound statement. Maybe we should have Musk rewrite the Bill of Rights. Apparently depriving reach is not abridging speech.  

So what seems to be the main differences between Twitter 1.0 and Twitter 2.0. Well Twitter 2.0 “censors” more. A blue check will cost significantly more. Maybe that status will come with enhanced privileges. Maybe even freedom of reach. Maybe even supercharged, bot-enhanced reach. Oh, and Twitter 2.0 seems to be worth about half of Twitter 1.0.  Did it cost $20 billion for Twitter to reinstate those who had been permanently banned. Seems maybe so.  

It seems there is another major difference. In Twitter 1.0, Jack Dorsey and/or anyone he designated had absolute discretion to do with the content posted and the people posting content and deplatform, put in Twitter jail, throttle, shadow-ban or algorithmically manipulate. All to their heart’s content.  In Twitter 2.0,  Elon Musk now enjoys that perk. Or anyone he deems worthy. Hail to Elon Musk, Chief Twit!

Personally, my opinion has not changed. Twitter is for birdbrains. Twitter 1.0 is. So is Twitter 2.0. And I reassert my belief in free speech absolutism. In a surveillance-free environment.

note: this column was originally published at Krypto Anarchy.

Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash