Sunday Reads – Free Speech and Tech Activism
Courtesy of Howard Lindzon
Good morning from somewhere over the Atlantic.
I am quickly writing this post from my seat to London from Phoenix…
I have said this for a long time but web 2.0 gave us TOO MUCH free speech.
Now Elon Musk is an activist bidder for Twitter and he believes it’s all about free speech too.
Almost every American adult can buy a semi-automatic weapon and bullets at Walmart and go anywhere to wreak havoc with their ‘free speech’ but somehow Twitter is the center of this issue.
Starting Stocktwits and creating our ‘house rules’ I have told I am anti-free speech too but I always call bullshit.
Using web 2.0 products is a privilege not a right.
I liked this thread from from Yishan – who ran Reddit – on the world of pain awaiting Elon if he thinks he can manage the free speech issue and Twitter. You can read it here.
This one rang most true to me as someone who spent years trying to grow Stocktwits organically:
Fred Wilson also has a great post up about free speech and moderation which I think is also right on the money.
If Elon is successful he will definitely change the product and I believe it will be for the good. But, I trust his use of ‘free speech’ will be a train wreck as well.
As for tech activism…
Have a look at Twitter’s board and their ownership:
These people don’t use the product and have very little ‘skin in the game’. What they have they likely did not purchase.
An easy prediction I will make is the following…
As interest rates stay elevated and tech growth multiples continue to fall I believe Elon will inspire a SPAC like growth spurt in Twitter activism.
At worst it will be entertaining.
