Tech billionaire Elon Musk has defended his move to not monetize the content of his critics on social media platform X, insisting the decision does not violate free speech rights.
“The First Amendment protects 'free speech,' not 'paid speech,'” Musk wrote on Wednesday.
X owner Musk was responding to a user who mocked those who accused him of violating free speech after some users' verification badges and monetization features were revoked. .
The move comes shortly after conservative users voiced opposition to Musk's support for the H-1B visa, a temporary nonimmigrant work permit.
”It's funny to me that people are stripped of their earnings for inexcusable behavior and then complain about free speech. ” Written by user. “You can say whatever you want, but you don’t get paid for it. I hope this helps.”
Those who lost their ability to verify and monetize included various hard-line immigration Republicans like Laura Loomer, a staunch ally of President-elect Trump.
Far-right white supremacist Nick Fuentes was among those who lost their certification. I am writing on X Tuesday, “Twitter censorship is back. Free speech is dead.”
The post had been viewed more than 2 million times as of Thursday. encourage masks “Calling for censorship while simultaneously garnering millions of views is the clearest evidence Fuentes has,” he writes. [poop emoji] For the brain. ”
Musk, who bought X in 2021, has touted himself in recent years as a champion of free speech. He rescinded many content moderation policies on X, defending the move as protecting free speech.
Musk was at the center of Trump's global civil war last week when he and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy voiced support for bringing in highly skilled foreign workers.
Musk, a close ally of President Trump, argued in an X-Post last week that Silicon Valley has too few U.S.-born engineers and often relies on immigrants. The South African-born tech billionaire once held an H-1B visa himself.
The H-1B visa program is an employer-sponsored visa for highly skilled professionals, primarily for computer- and technology-related jobs.
Congress capped the program at 65,000 people per year and an additional 20,000 for foreign professionals who graduated with a master's or doctoral degree from a U.S. university.
Those in the far-right MAGA base claim the visa program is being used to degrade the status of American workers.
Trump ultimately sided with Musk and supported issuing nonimmigrant visas.
“I've always liked visas, I've always been pro-visas, and that's why we have them,” President Trump said.telephone interviewIn a New York Post article published last week.
“I have a lot of H-1B visas on my property. I've always believed in H-1B. I've used them many times. It's a great program,” he said, as reported by the Post. added.
