#321: Musk’s Moderation Musings (And Beyond)

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever since his (putative) deal to buy Twitter was announced, Elon Musk has hijacked the debates around content moderation, the design of social media, and online speech. His comments on these subjects are a mish-mash of (sometimes contradictory) slogans. Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Berin Szóka, founder and president of TechFreedom, join the show for a more informed exploration of these topics. Along with host Corbin Barthold, they discuss the nuances of social media transparency, the value of user anonymity, the promise of decentralized protocols, and more. Mentioned on this episode: the Santa Clara Principles; articles on the Musk/Twitter deal by Jillian, Berin, and Corbin; and EFF’s new Tracking Global Censorship project.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Six weeks ago, Elon Musk and Twitter agreed, in principle, to a $44 billion sale.
0:14.2	That in principle caveat seems to be getting ever more important.
0:19.5	Since the deal was announced, Musk has been trolling Twitter, on Twitter, no less, in ways large and small.
0:27.1	And as markets have turned downward and Twitter's share price along with it,
0:31.8	Musk has started showing serious signs of buyer's remorse.
0:36.0	Either that, or he is playing out what really has all along been
0:39.8	one giant troll. That latter possibility, certainly, would explain why Musk is tweeting
0:45.6	poop emojis at the CEO of the company he claims to want to buy. By the time this airs,
0:53.0	a few days after we record it, Musk's deal to purchase Twitter might
0:57.6	have truly collapsed. Or Musk might have explained that he's going to set the products
1:03.1	terms of service using an elaborate system of coin flips. Or maybe he will have announced that he's
1:08.4	going to put Snoop Dog in charge.
1:16.8	Any of that would be fine for our purposes, because what you're about to hear is ultimately not a conversation about Elon Musk.
1:20.4	This is the tech policy podcast. I'm Corbyn Barthold.
1:24.8	Although Musk is going to be our foil today at times, ultimately the subject
1:29.5	is content moderation, and the design of social media platforms, and the state of free speech
1:35.6	online here and around the world. I'm fortunate to be joined by the perfect pair for such a discussion.
1:43.6	One of them is Jillian New York.
1:46.5	Gillian is the director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
1:53.3	She's also the author of Silicon Values, the future of free speech under surveillance capitalism.
2:00.3	The other person here today is none other than my comrade in arms, Baron Soka, the founder
2:07.8	and president of tech freedom. Jillian, Baron, welcome. Thanks for having me.
	...

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