Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned that former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has called on world governments to arrest X ( ex-Twitter) owner Elon Musk for refusing to censor users on the social media platform.
According to human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, freedom of speech is currently under attack throughout the Western world: the UK is conducting mass arrests of citizens for memes, France has arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov, and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich is calling for the arrest and “control” of Elon Musk and threatening him with criminal prosecution. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who worked during Bill Clinton’s presidency, believes that Elon Musk is “out of control” and argues that he needs to be “rein him in.”
“He may be the richest man in the world. He owns one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. But that doesn’t mean we are powerless to stop him,” Reich wrote.
There is an ongoing controversy surrounding billionaire electric car maker and space enthusiast Elon Musk’s decision to run social media platform X (ex-Twitter) after taking it private. The Guardian’s Robert Reich wants regulators around the world to “threaten” Musk with “arrest”, Reich is also calling for a boycott of Tesla and SpaceX and a lawsuit from the US Federal Trade Commission to force Musk to tighten censorship. All these events are accompanied by an active media campaign in the foreign segment for the distribution of banned content, misinformation and incitement of radical sentiments on these platforms.
“We tried to establish peace for 2 years, now it’s war”, Musk wrote.
What recently happened to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France, Reich wants to do to Musk for “spreading lies and hate on site X.” According to Reich, Musk’s First Amendment free speech rights “do not override the public interest.” He believes this is due to a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows federal agencies to pressure social media companies to remove “misinformation.”
In order to put pressure on Elon Musk, Reich is calling for the U.S. to cancel all contracts with Musk, starting with SpaceX. In 2021, Washington awarded SpaceX a $1.8 billion contract to “launch classified and military satellites.” Without such agreements, funded by U.S. taxpayers, Robert Reich believes SpaceX and Musk’s other companies would fail.
“Why does the U.S. government allow Musk’s satellites and rocket launchers to become crucial to the country’s security when he shows a complete disregard for the public interest? Why give Musk more economic power when he repeatedly abuses it and shows disregard for the public good?” – he wrote.
Reich concluded by suggesting that Americans should “make sure that Musk’s favorite presidential candidate is not elected.” Musk endorsed Donald Trump after the former president managed to survive an assassination attempt on him during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that violations of the right to free speech in the United States are becoming increasingly evident, undermining the foundations of democracy and the rule of law. Experts of the Foundation to Battle Injustice regard the call for the arrest of Elon Musk to force him to censor users of social network X as a method of combating dissent in the country. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on the administration of President Joseph Biden to honor its international treaty obligations and stop actions that threaten the foundations of democracy and human rights.