- X is not the “bastion of free speech” everybody thinks it’s, says Mark Cuban.
- The “Shark Tank” star mentioned the platform is “solely as free as Elon desires it to be.
Mark Cuban would not assume social media platform X is as free as Elon Musk says it’s.
“I do know everybody thinks this platform is a bastion of free speech. I see the alternative,” Cuban wrote in an X put up on Sunday.
The “Shark Tank” star gave his opinion of Musk’s possession of X whereas participating with skilled gambler, Haralabos Voulgaris on the platform.
Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, earlier than renaming it X in July 2023.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital city sq. the place issues important to the way forward for humanity are debated,” Musk mentioned in assertion in April 2022, when the acquisition was introduced.
Musk mentioned that he wished to enhance Twitter by introducing “new options, making the algorithms open supply to extend belief, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all people.”
But the X of at this time, Cuban mentioned, is not what Musk initially promised.
“It’s solely as free as Elon desires it to be. He can intimidate. He can alter the algorithm. He can droop anybody he desires at any time,” Cuban wrote on Sunday.
“He is the final word arbiter of all the things on right here. And the largest energy play is him making everybody assume their speech is free speech Until he decides it is not, and there may be nothing any of us can do about it.”
Cuban, nonetheless, hasn’t stopped utilizing X.
“Which is why each time he calls me out or calls me names, I’ll toss stuff again at him. It’s enjoyable,” Cuban mentioned in his put up to Voulgaris.
“And you recognize I all the time take pleasure in and respect our backwards and forwards.”
I don’t assume it’s tragic. I like to have interaction with completely different individuals on any variety of matters. Kills time after I’m doing cardio or in between emails.
I do know everybody thinks this platform is a bastion of free speech. I see the alternative.
It’s solely as free as Elon desires it to be.…
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 1, 2024
This is not the primary time Cuban has accused Musk of working X primarily based on his personal whims and fancies.
Last month, Cuban mentioned in an interview on “The Daily Show” that Musk may need adjusted X’s algorithm to go well with his personal preferences.
“When you write an algorithm — I have not written rather a lot, it has been some time — however while you write one, you get to set the parameters of what you need to see occur. And he definitely has achieved that to the issues he likes,” Cuban mentioned, with out offering proof of Musk’s manipulation of the algorithm.
Cuban’s accusation spurred a response from Musk, who wrote simply days later in an X put up that his platform is open-source, in contrast to different platforms.
Cuban, Musk mentioned, was seeing extra content material from right-wing accounts as a result of the algorithm was taking into consideration Cuban’s frequent interactions with them. Cuban has been recognized to reply to all kinds of accounts on X.
Musk later adopted up with one other put up that known as Cuban an enormous turd in human kind.
Cuban solely had a quick response for Musk: a sequence of coronary heart hand emojis.
https://t.co/ByayAZlB7q
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 14, 2024
In June, Cuban instructed Business Insider that he has no points with Musk regardless of their heated exchanges on X.
Besides X, the pair have gone head-to-head on matters like company range, fairness, and inclusion initiatives and the US presidential election this 12 months.
“I’ve enjoyable sparring with Elon. He likes to troll and so do I,” Cuban mentioned in June.
Representatives for Musk at X and Cuban did not instantly reply to requests for remark from BI despatched exterior common enterprise hours.
