The Work of Free Speech on Social Media

Notes on the marketplace of ideas

He’s back, bishes

Apologies for the somewhat delayed publication schedule. I’ve been ill for long stretches of the past two months — not seriously ill, but sick enough to make me eager to avoid prolonged stretches of screen time unrelated to my day job. On top of that, it’s been a struggle to write, as I’ve noted in previous articles. I’ve been at this game for fifteen years, and it’s hard to give two squirts of piss about the same old arguments and counterarguments I’ve been reading¹ for the past thirty.

That said, I’ve got some good articles and pocasts interviews in the can. Expect at least 5-6 more posts before we close the books on December.

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The recent restoration of hypomanic, heavy-bodied hoax hustler Alex Jones to the platform formerly known as Twitter, following a user poll initiated by Elon Musk, has sparked a conversation about the dynamics of speech regulation on these platforms. This event — fortunately still trivial to those billions of humanzees who must hew wood and draw water out there in what remains of the “IRL” — underpins a broader debate about the intersection of freedom of speech, corporate interests, and user empowerment in the digital age.

The Intersection of Public Relations and Free Speech

The initial banning of figures like Alex Jones and Donald Trump was predominantly driven by public relations considerations. Social media platforms, vying for ad revenue from risk-averse companies and eager to “butter up” the powers that be, understandably align with milquetoast, mainstream media-approved slacktivism. This approach to content moderation is not purely about moral or ethical standards but is intricately tied to the business models of these companies, where maintaining a certain inoffensive public image is crucial for financial viability.