‘Free Speech Absolutist’ Elon Musk Hides Effective Political Ad That Calls Out GOP

A few weeks ago, the Progress Action Fund released a political ad in Ohio that went somewhat viral on social media. I saw one person refer to it as “the most effective political ad” they’d ever seen.

And, I mean, even if you don’t agree with the message, you have to admit that (1) it gets your attention, and (2) it damn well gets its message across better than your standard political ad.

So, anyway, it appears that commercial is a bit too hot and heavy (or upsetting to the Republican party that Elon has publicly said everyone should vote for), that he, free speech warrior that he is, has banned it, and “shadowbanned” (according to Musk and his fans) the Progress Action Fund’s account:

According to the Progress Action Fund, which aims to defeat Republicans in red states, the platform “has censored” its account as well as the ad, called “Keep Republicans Out Of Your Bedroom.” In addition, the platform has “placed a ‘Search Ban’ and a ‘Search Suggestion Ban’ on the account.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the account did not show up on the social media platform, yet the ad could still be seen on X through retweets from other accounts.

The Progress Action Fund said it contacted the platform’s legal department and “appealed the decision, which was denied.”

Elon, of course, has said that he’s so supportive of free speech that he’ll defend it “even if it means losing money.”

In this case, well, he’s losing money. But I’m a but confused as to how it’s defending free speech when he’s banned the ad?

At first, I actually wondered if this was a holdover from the old Twitter’s (somewhat shortsighted) policy of not allowing political ads. But, I had forgotten that Musk rescinded that policy.

Some have suggested that it was shadowbanned because of the “sexual” nature of the ad, but there is way more graphic content all over ex-Twitter.

Of course, it’s possible it was just a mistake. Or, perhaps a bunch of GOP trolls brigaded the reporting system until ex-Twitter’s remaining trust & safety person decided to “max deboost” the video?

Who really knows?

But, given the nature of the ad, it’s yet another reason to question Musk’s actual commitment to free speech (which has never been an actual thing to anyone who actually understands free speech and who has paid attention to Musk over the years).