Elon Musk Throws Shade At Jimmy Wales: Twitter Puts 'Wokipedia' To Shame In Free Speech Battle

Elon Musk took a jab at Jimmy Wales, suggesting that Twitter promotes free speech more than Wikipedia. 

What Happened: Amid the content scrutiny controversy in Turkey, where parliamentary and presidential elections took place on Sunday, Twitter now provided an update on its approach in the country. 

On Tuesday, the Twitter Global Government Affairs account said that the microblogging site was the only platform not fully compliant with existing court orders. However, the site received what they believed was the “final threat to throttle the service” in Turkey.  

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Therefore, to keep “Twitter available over the election weekend,” the platform took action on four accounts and 409 tweets identified by the court order. The company stated that it continues to object in court and communicate its concerns about “freedom of expression” directly. 

The update came after Musk’s commitment to free speech was questioned on Saturday after Twitter restricted access to some content in Turkey. 

A right-wing blogger and commentator, Ian Miles Cheong, applauded Musk and Twitter for “coming through with full transparency on the Turkish government’s censorship.”

In response, the tech billionaire said that the microblogging site has “pushed harder for speech” than any existing Internet company, including “Wokipedia.” He then tagged Wikipedia co-founder Wales. 

Why It’s Important: Musk’s jab at Wales appears to have stemmed from Wikipedia co-founder’s remarks about Twitter’s censorship in Turkey and what the online encyclopedia had done in a similar situation. 

“We stood strong for our principles and fought to the Supreme Court of Turkey and won,” Wales previously said, adding, “This is what it means to treat freedom of expression as a principle rather than a slogan.” 

In October last year, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, positioned the platform as a bastion of free speech and presented himself as a “free speech absolutist.” 

Although, Musk didn’t seem to see eye to eye with Wikipedia long before he held the position of Twitter CEO. In 2020, Musk begged his followers to “trash” him on Wikipedia, which prompted the platform to give his page an “Extended Protection” tag. 

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