Magdalena Biejat, Deputy talker of the legislature and candidate of the Left for President, expressed her concerns about Elon Musk's activities and its impact on the public debate on platform X (formerly Twitter). In her opinion, Musk is simply a threat to freedom of speech and democracy in Europe.
Musk vs. mainstream media
Elon Musk has been targeting mainstream media for a long time. After taking over Twitter and renamed it X he gave up his current censorship policy, which caused a storm among its critics. Even more controversy sparked his open support for Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential election.
The debate on Musk besides featured a thread by Michał Kuczmierowski, erstwhile head of the Government strategical Reserve Agency for the regulation of the Law and Justice, who was temporarily imprisoned in Britain. This case was raised by Benyamin Naeem Habib, a British politician and entrepreneur who publically criticized the actions of the British government. Musk was besides active in the case, which contributed to the decision of the court to release Kuczmierowski from custody, so that he could answer to the Polish justice strategy from a free foot.
Left fears the dominance of Musk over X
Biejat, referring to this situation, criticized the Polish right for – in her opinion – excessive attachment to Musk.
"Since Elon Musk became Donald Trump's right-hand man, writers pay him constant tributes to Lenne. This is simply a curiosity situation. Regardless of what I think of the decision of the British court, I think it would be good if right-wing politicians did not apply their measurement to independent courts in Europe," she said.
Her main concerns, however, concern control over X. According to Biejat Musk, as the owner of the platform, has a immense impact on algorithms and the way content is moderated, which can lead to manipulating public debate.
"Elon Musk is now a threat to freedom of speech and democracy in Europe. This is the man who will usage his tremendous power over X algorithms to set up a public debate and influence our elections," she stressed.
Do you request more control over X?
Journalist Michał Wróblewski argued that according to the Polish right, Biejat poses a threat to freedom of speech due to the fact that it wants to increase regulation over X. The politician replied to these allegations, explaining that she was not going to close the platform, but simply to postulate greater transparency in its algorithms.
"I don't want to close X, I just think we should have a better insight into how algorithms work. I think we should have more control of what's happening on X. due to the fact that X is present a place where hatred continues, coordinated actions of trolls, besides Russian trolls," she argued.
Biejat besides reiterated her erstwhile criticism of Musk, accusing him, among another things, of ‘hauling’ and contacts with representatives of the German far-right AfD party. In her opinion, he is the threat to freedom of speech in Poland.
X – a tool of freedom or control?
The dispute around platform X reflects a wider debate on the function of social media in shaping public opinion. On the 1 hand, politicians like Biejat see the request for greater control and transparency to prevent misinformation and manipulation. On the another hand, supporters of freedom of speech fear that any regulation can lead to censorship and a simplification in pluralism.
Is greater control of X truly necessary? Or did Musk, by removing censorship, contribute to greater freedom of expression? The answers to these questions stay the subject of a heated debate.
More here:
Biejat requires more control of the X platform
