Why isn’t Elon Musk stopping antisemitism? I think I know why...

The tech titan claims he is a free speech ‘absolutist’ who wants to defeat ‘the woke mind virus’. But that’s not the only reason he’s flirted with extremism on X, writes Sean O’Grady

Musk is now a publisher, one of the biggest in the world, and he’s responsible for what he publishes (AP)

According to Elon Musk, free speech is just “people you don’t like saying things you don’t agree with”.

That would certainly seem applicable to a reply he made to a disturbing post on X, formerly Twitter, the other day, in which he agreed with some extremist sentiments about Jews and immigration. On the strength of that, and other evidence, I don’t much like Musk, and I don’t agree with what he says. As is my right – right?

I have to confess that I’m so inured to the racism and hate on X that I didn’t take much notice of it when I glimpsed it last week. But it was a disgrace. So much so, indeed, that the White House condemned it – Musk is not so rich and powerful to be able to act with impunity. Yet. (And if the sudden exodus of advertisers is anything to go by, he may soon be thinking twice once it hits his pocket.)