Billionaire Elon Musk declared “comedy is now legal on Twitter” when he bought the social media service for $44 billion last week.
Musk has learned, however, that not all comedy can be protected. Twitter on Sunday enacted a new policy of permanently suspending accounts for impersonations that weren’t very clearly labeled as parody. Musk cited his commitment to free speech:
My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” Musk tweeted.
Several comedians such as Sarah Silverman and Kathy Griffin — along with former NFL player Chris Warcraft — pushed the limit by continuing to impersonate Musk. Here is Silverman’s work:
1) 9 days ago, 2) yesterday 3) today. We have fun pic.twitter.com/eTKAp8PBuK
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) November 7, 2022
Twitter suspended the impersonators shortly thereafter, as promised.
Twitter was quick to react to the bans:
https://twitter.com/mmasnick/status/1589395193224396801
“Also, Musk went on *for months* about how there should never be *permanent* suspension. And here we are one week in and he’s perma banning people for making jokes at his expense,” Mike Masnick tweeted.
I read this on Max Read's substack but it totally captured what Musk is: he's a message board moderator from the early '00s who got in a big fight with a bunch of people on some thread and is now on a rampage of banning people and generally shitting up the board.
— Matt Helgeson (@MattHelgeson) November 7, 2022
“I read this on Max Read’s substack but it totally captured what Musk is: he’s a message board moderator from the early ’00s who got in a big fight with a bunch of people on some thread and is now on a rampage of banning people and generally sh—— up the board,” Matt Helgeson said.
Musk is banning blue-check comedians for impersonating him. Meanwhile tweets like this are still up… pic.twitter.com/KViZ3jL8xr
— Billy Perrigo (@billyperrigo) November 7, 2022
“Musk is banning blue-check comedians for impersonating him. Meanwhile tweets like this are still up…,” noted Billy Perrigo.
Elon Musk trying to be manly by permanently banning Kathy Griffin from Twitter. His fear that her free speech may destroy America. pic.twitter.com/XTPr1GEDUx
— Jerry Saltz (@jerrysaltz) November 7, 2022
“Elon Musk trying to be manly by permanently banning Kathy Griffin from Twitter. His fear that her free speech may destroy America,” Jerry Saltz said.
Agree that unlikely Musk knew he was approving of quote by a Nazi/pedophile, but substance of quote is dark, ominous, and sort of insane for a person who just started permentaly banning people for criticizing him.
— David Rothschild 🌻 (@DavMicRot) November 7, 2022
“Agree that unlikely Musk knew he was approving of quote by a Nazi/pedophile, but substance of quote is dark, ominous, and sort of insane for a person who just started permentaly banning people for criticizing him,” David Rothschild said.
Twitter has yet to comment on the suspensions.
[Twitter]
