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People will inevitably comment regarding the X.com suspension of Yulia Navalnaya (Alexei Navalny's wife): “X does not have a choice but to obey local governmen
by cbeach 3y ago
People will inevitably comment regarding the X.com suspension of Yulia Navalnaya (Alexei Navalny's wife):
“X does not have a choice but to obey local governments. If we don't obey local government laws, we will get shut down. We do our best to provide free speech that is possible under the law.”
--Elon Musk
If x.com was shut down in Russia, another channel of citizen organisation and dissent would be removed. Musk is in an near-impossible position when it comes to free speech in totalitarian regimes.
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Update: it looks like this argument is somewhat moot as Yulia's account has been restored: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/20/x-suspends-account-of-navalnys-widow-yulia-navalnaya.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/20/x-suspends-account-of-navaln...
- dbbk 3y agoThey perfectly well have the functionality to make certain tweets and accounts inaccessible in certain regions. There's no reason to shut the account down globally.
- cbeach 3y agoThe problem is that if Putin demands Yulia's account is shut down globally then Musk has to comply, or Putin will pull the plug on x.com for all Russians (including Yulia). Whether or not Putin /should/ have global jurisdiction is irrelevant. He has the power to cut off x.com in Russia if x.com does something he really doesn't like. Rock and hard place.
- dbbk 3y agoThe Russian legal system only has jurisdiction in Russia.
- ksherlock 3y agoMaksim Kuzminov would disagree with you.
- cbeach 3y agoAlexander Litvinenko would disagree with you. https://news.sky.com/story/the-polonium-trail-how-did-the-poison-used-to-kill-alexander-litvinenko-get-to-the-uk-12027427 https://news.sky.com/story/the-polonium-trail-how-did-the-po...
- cbeach 3y agoSergei and Yulia Skripal would disagree with you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_Skripal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_...
- r721 3y agoTwitter is blocked in Russia since Mar 2022.
- mamonster 3y agoDo they actually have that capability(genuinely asking, wouldn't know how it would work)? You know these tweets that get reported and investigated because they "don't comply with local German laws" or whatever? I would've thought if region locks were possible then this would've stopped happening a long time ago.
- dbbk 3y agoYes: https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/post-withheld-by-country https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/post-withheld...
- timeon 3y ago> in an near-impossible position when it comes to free speech Also not free speech absolutists.
- cbeach 3y agoHypothetically speaking, would you choose to allow Musk to be above the law in order to allow him to defend freedom of speech? I would. But I don't think it would be a universally popular idea.
- timeon 3y agoI think that 'free speech absolutism' is empty vessel. Virtue signaling.
- dkjaudyeqooe 3y agoNo one in their right mind would. One of the first things Musk did after buying Twitter was to ban the guy who published his plane movements. Apparently acceptable free speech doesn't entail republishing already public information in a slightly more convenient format, if it annoys Musk. Entrusting anything, especially without the protection of the law, to the apparently emotionally frail Musk would seem to be unadvisable.
- add-sub-mul-div 3y agoMaybe if he'd treated the prior Twitter ownership's difficult decisions with that kind of magnanimity instead of demagoguery he wouldn't have played himself into wasting his money on it.
- maximinus_thrax 3y ago> If x.com was shut down in Russia What the hell are you on about? Twitter has been 'restricted' in Russia since March 2022.