Elon Musk continues to stir controversy in his first days as the new owner of social media giant Twitter. On Friday, he warned companies who cave in to leftist demands that if they boycott the platform, they will deal with his efforts to publicly “name and shame” them to millions of Twitter users.
The billionaire entrepreneur and the world’s richest man said he bought the social media company at an overvalued price of $44 billion not to make money, but to protect the online “public square” for free expression and open discussions of all topics.
Musk’s defense of free speech ideals has of course angered censorship-craving leftists, who have been working to encourage large advertisers to break off their business relationships with Twitter.
Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Musk wrote in a Twitter post on Friday morning that the company has had a “massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.”
He added: “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”
Thank you.
A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Attorney Mike Davis, who previously served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, posted a tweet addressing the boycott attempt later Friday morning. He urged Musk to make an aggressive response taking advantage of his audience of nearly 114 million Twitter followers. He told Musk to “name and shame” the advertisers who give in so they can be “counter-boycotted.”
Referring to Musk’s announcement that he plans to charge verified accounts a monthly fee to maintain their cherished “blue check” status, Davis urged Musk to get “your $8 monthly subscription going ASAP.”
Musk replied to Davis Friday evening with his thanks and a statement that a “thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues.”
The calls for a Twitter boycott have been coming from major players in the leftist progressive political world, including the NAACP, Media Matters for America, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. The groups who fear allowing users to converse freely without strict moderation and censorship called on the CEOs of major companies to “cease all advertising” with Twitter unless Musk agrees to their demands.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that some large corporations have “paused” their Twitter advertising, signaling some “woke” businesses are likely to submit to the demands of the leftist political mob. Those advertisers include Pfizer, Volkswagen, GM, Ford and General Mills.
