Will Elon Musk Change Twitter's Ban on Advertising for Weapons?

 

 Elon Musk 14 April, 2022 by Steve Jurvetson CC 2.0

Will Elon Musk change Twitter's political policy on banning advertisements for anything they percieve as a weapon? The list is broad and purely political.

Elon Musk has been making headlines with his aquisition of Twitter. Twitter has become famous for taking sides during the 2020 election by banning the New York Post, after it released the bombshell article about the Hunter Biden laptop and Biden family corruption. After the election, they banned sitting President Donald Trump. 

Some surveys have claimed the ban on the news of Biden family corruption allowed President Biden to  take the presidency. Some polls show the difference was more than enough to swing the election. Many voters have said they would have voted against Biden if they had known, before the election, what we know now. The information was suppressed and hidden by Twitter and other media outlets.

Elon Musk says he wants Twitter to become a bastion of free speech for everyone, barring only content which is illegal. From Elon Musk on Twitter: 

 By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. 

 I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. 

 Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

Elon Musk is in the process of purchasing Twitter. He has said he is a free speech absolutist. He has not yet taken control of the company. Control may not be transferred until October of 2022. 

The Twitter Woke policy prohibition on the advertisement of "weapons" is absolutist and absurd. From Twitter.com:

Twitter prohibits the promotion of weapons and weapon accessories globally.

Examples of weapons and weapon accessories include:

• Guns, including airsoft guns, air guns, blow guns, paintball guns, antique guns, replica guns, and imitation guns
• Gun parts and accessories, including gun mounts, grips, magazines, and ammunition
• Rental of guns (other than from shooting ranges)
• Stun guns, taser guns, mace, pepper spray, or other similar self defense weapons
• Swords, machetes, and other edged/bladed weapons
• Explosives, bombs, and bomb making supplies and/or equipment
• Fireworks, flamethrowers, and other pyrotechnic devices
• Knives, including butterfly knives, fighting knives, switchblades, disguised knives, and throwing stars

Probably over half the earth's population understands that weapons have utililty, as they have for all of man's existence. It is an extreme policy to claim that weapons, even toy weapons, collector's weapons, tools, knives, and self-defense items which are legal in the vast majority of countries, are somehow "bad" and should not be allowed to be advertised.  

It is hubris on the part of Twitter of a high order.

Prohibiting the advertisement of weapons, especially to the absurd degree found in current Twitter policy, is taking an extreme side in a political debate. 

In the United States, there is the Second Amendment. Twitter's policy is an implicit statement the Second Amendment is a political error. In 2020 and 2021, the purchase of firearms alone (excluding other items banned by the Twitter policy) hit record levels, with record levels of new gun purchasers. 

Nearly 40 million private guns were added to the American stock, with about 14 million new gun owners.

Analysis:

Elon Musk has shown he understands the utility of weapons, as he has donated the use of Starlink to Ukraine to aid in its defense. He claims to have thwarted efforts by Russia to hack and take down the Starlink system.

If Elon Musk is consistent with his free speech absolutism, the ban on the advertisement of legal weapons will be removed as Twitter policy.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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