Elon Musk pledges to fund legal bills of X users ‘unfairly treated’ by employers for their posts

Billionaire Musk says there is ‘no limit’ to his promise as he faces accusations of allowing hate speech to thrive on the platform

Elon Musk, owner of X, says “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy” (REUTERS)

Elon Musk has said X, previously known as Twitter, will fund the legal bills of any user ‘unfairly treated’ by an employer for their activity on the social media platform.

Posting on the recently-rebranded site on Sunday, he added there would be ‘no limit,’ encouraging users to ‘please let us know’.

If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.

No limit.

Please let us know.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023

Musk has been vocal about his commitment to freedom of speech in the past, once defining himself as a ‘free speech absolutist’.

Shortly after acquiring Twitter, he tweeted: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated”.

The post has already received over 18,000 replies to his post, with Musk responding to just one so far from right-wing account ‘Libs of TikTok’.

Chaya Raichik, who operates the account, claims US content creator Kara Lynne was fired by her former employer for following her and other right-wing accounts on Twitter.

Reaching out to Lynne directly, Musk replied: “Kara, is that accurate?”

The billionaire CEO’s interactions with the ‘Libs of TikTok’ account, noted for its anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ content, have been criticised in the past. In December, he was accused of amplifying anti-trans bigotry when he liked a tweet from them.

The logo of X, formerly known as Twitter, on the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, California. (Elon Musk/ X)

Earlier this week X Corp, Musk’s firm that owns X, launched a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The move came after the group published research criticising the platform for an increase in hate speech under Musk’s leadership.

X Corp has accused the CCDH “unlawful acts” to “improperly gain access to its data”. The not-for-proft organisation researches and campaigns against online hate, and is often cited by the press.

In response to the lawsuit, CCDH founder and CEO Imran Ahmed said:

“Elon Musk’s latest legal move is straight out of the authoritarian playbook – he is now showing he will stop at nothing to silence anyone who criticizes him for his own decisions and actions.”

“CCDH has no intention of stopping our independent research – Musk will not bully us into silence.”