- Elon Musk's X relies on free speech to work.
- But free speech is slowly tilting to paid speech on the platform.
It would be a bad idea for a self-proclaimed "free-speech absolutist" like Elon Musk to charge a fee to people wanting to share their views online. After all, "free speech" isn't very free if you're asked to cough up a regular fee.
But the billionaire seems to have a grand plan for X, which involves taking the "free" out of "free speech." It couldn't have come at a more difficult moment.
This week, Musk's social-media company started to test a new $1 annual subscription feature called "Not A Bot" for new users creating an account in New Zealand and the Philippines. It's part of an effort to reduce spam and manipulation, the company said.
This week also happens to have been one of the worst for X's reputation since Musk's takeover of the company formerly known as Twitter, as the raging Israel-Gaza conflict has triggered the spread of alarming amounts of disinformation, lies, and inaccuracies.
Musk has flirted with the idea of putting the entirety of X behind a paywall for some time. His rationale for doing so has typically revolved around the idea that a paywall could go a long way towards removing the spam bots that clog up the platform with falsehoods.
There may be some merit to that. A paywall, for instance, may have stopped a fake account posing as an Al Jazeera journalist from cropping up and spreading unfounded claims about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
But by starting to charge users for access to X, Musk enters dangerous territory: a platform vital for documenting and sharing current affairs through free speech in real-time risks turning into a pay-to-play game.
If it isn't clear why that's bad, take a moment to reflect on the severity — and sources — of the information war that has gripped Musk's platform since the onset of Hamas' terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7.
Blame does not fall solely on bots for the spread of disinformation, faked images, and malicious misrepresentation of events about the Israel-Gaza conflict. Users exercising their version of free speech have been found culpable, too.
A post that recently circulated on X included a video described as footage of Hamas firing rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.
Reuters reported, however, that matching footage circulated in 2020 with Syria tagged as the location. The news agency added that the video did not depict the October 2023 conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Countering falsity has required free, unfettered access to X for users like Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist who specializes in tackling disinformation. Highly active users tagging posts with a corrective Community Note also require the same access.
That unfettered access has clearly offered a vital means of exercising free speech that counters speech aimed at sowing discord, spreading outrage, and adding chaos to a situation already drowning in it.
Putting a fee on that access could do a lot of harm if it means unverified claims go unchecked.
It's worth emphasizing that X is experimenting with a subscription fee that is just $1. There is no certainty on whether or not X will extend this policy to other regions.
But Musk's free-speech absolutism will come under question if a monetary fee stops voices of reason from engaging on his platform.