Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has shared his thoughts on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s allegations regarding censorship demands by the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a post on his own social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Musk quoted the Republican Party post on Zuckerberg‘s allegations and wrote, “Sounds like a First Amendment violation”.
He seemed to be suggesting that such moves by the ruling administration would constitute a violation of the American First Amendment rights.
Sounds like a First Amendment violation https://t.co/RjEF8gU0A0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2024
US First Amendment Rights
The United States’ First Amendment Rights as mentioned in its Constitution grant citizens the freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and protest.
The US Congress website states the First Amendment as: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
‘X Supports All Viewpoints’
Musk in another post also stated that his own social media platform ‘X’ “supports all viewpoints” within legal bounds, and asked users to “yell” at him if it doesn’t.
“Just want to reiterate that this platform really is meant to support all viewpoints within the bounds of the laws of countries, even those of people with whom I vehemently disagree and personally dislike. If that doesn’t seem to be happening, please yell at me (ideally on 𝕏),” Musk wrote.
To another user suggesting that Zuckerberg was “inspired by Musk”, the billionaire replied: “Whatever the reason, it’s a step in the right direction.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s Allegations
Zuckerberg, CEO of social media and tech giant Meta, in a letter to the US Congress’ House Judiciary Committee, alleged that the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration “repeatedly pressured” his company to censor posts related to COVID-19, “including humour and satire”, ANI reported.
He added that these officials “expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree”, but noted that the final decision to censor content was made by Meta, the report said.
“Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure,” Zuckerberg wrote.
He added that the pressure was “wrong” and that he regrets not being more outspoken against it, as per the report. “Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again,” he added.