THE BATTLE FOR TWITTER

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A lot of people wondered why Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy Twitter.

There's no reason to wonder any more. Twitter has been an effective platform for liberals in a world in which they have few. Musk wants to stop that. The effort has been a massive failure so far, thanks to the beauty of free speech.

Musk gave "journalists" Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss access to internal documents detailing some of Twitter's moderation decisions. While online platforms are not required to do any moderation at all and can not be held liable for what users post, most platforms try to remove speech that is inherently dangerous. The "Twitter Files" alleged that under its previous management, the platform silenced conservative voices because they were conservative. The actual reporting showed nothing of the sort. It showed that Twitter followed its rules, blocking content that clearly violated its terms of service. When liberals on Twitter accurately described Taibbi and Weiss' reporting for what it was, what conservatives hoped would be a bombshell landed with a dull thud.

This is how the marketplace of ideas should work. The way to defeat bad speech is with good speech. The way to defeat falsehoods is with truth. Attempting to defeat bad speech by trying to silence it rarely works in a free society.

That brings us to Musk's banning from Twitter of several journalists who have written unflattering things, that is, told the truth about him. The claims he has made about why he banned the reporters don't stand up to any scrutiny. Unfortunately, a number of liberals and/or journalists have left, or are considering leaving Twitter. That would be a mistake. 

If liberals leave Twitter, it will become another large conservative-dominated platform, just as its new owner hopes.

Don't take the bait. We don't need more one-sided echo chambers. We need a robust marketplace of ideas. 

If you think I'm wrong, use your free speech right to say so. I'm @FlxTed on Twitter.