Over the last few months, social media giant Twitter has somehow done the impossible. They’ve earned a bit of favor with the conservative crowd, thanks in large part to the work of billionaire Elon Musk who bought the company and has been making changes to transform it from a bastion of censorship into a hot spot for free speech.
It’s not perfect by any means, but hey, at least you don’t have to worry about being instantly banned and censored for sharing conservative views — it still happens here and there for sure — which should be the standard approach to a company that is geared toward providing every user with a voice to share their beliefs and opinions.
This is probably why recently ousted Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, has decided to host his brand new show on the platform, “Tucker on Twitter,” which aired for the first time on Tuesday:
Ep. 1 pic.twitter.com/O7CdPjF830
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023
“Without any particular hype of fanfare, Carlson’s debut episode on Twitter came with a sterling 69.4 million viewers, at the time of writing this article,” the Western Journal reported. “The 10-ish minute premiere also came with a stern warning — one that appears to be aimed at Musk despite conservatives thriving on the social media platform as of late.”
As the episode wrapped up, Carlson delivered a monologue outlining the critical importance of free speech.
“As of today, we’ve come to Twitter, which we hope will be the short-wave radio under the blankets.” Carlson went on to say during the segment at the end of his show. “We are told there are no gatekeepers here.”
One of the main reasons that Twitter seems to be thriving right now is because, under the leadership of Musk, the company feels like a forum where people on both sides of the political spectrum can come to debate while being equals.
With the company now making a commitment against censorship and with a new community notes feature that provides help in countering falsehoods spread by liberals, things seem far more level.
“If that turns out to be false, we’ll leave,” Carlson stated matter-of-factly, with just a tiny bit of menace in his tone. “But in the meantime, we are grateful to be here.”
“For what it’s worth, Musk does seem genuinely committed to true free speech on his social media platform. There may be lingering pockets of resistance from the prior regime, which can lead to some confusion and ugliness, but by and large, Twitter under Musk’s stewardship appears to be an actual haven for protected speech,” the report stated.
If Musk doesn’t keep his word and Twitter returns to censorship of anyone with conservative ideas, well, folks on the right will make a digital exodus away from the platform and will find a new way to communicate and spread truth. The cause is too important to just quit, to be silenced and give up. Quitting goes against everything Americans stand for.
We’ll always find a new way to survive, to thrive. We’re resilient like that.