“Zuck Bucks” wasn’t the only way the CEO of Meta was said to be aiding the establishment as Elon Musk fired off a scorching accusation related to free speech.
For the side of the political divide keen on promoting spectrums, matters of what they found to be acceptable discourse have grown increasingly black and white. As Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France over accusations of failing to curb criminal use of the messaging app, a reminder about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s platforms had Musk asserting why the Facebook co-founder got a free pass.
“Because he already caved into censorship pressure,” wrote the billionaire entrepreneur in response to the question, “WHY DON”T THEY ARREST MARK ZUCKERBERG FOR ENABLING CHILD PREDATORS?”
The post included a CBS report on a lawsuit filed against Meta that had Musk sharing his own links to support the claim, “Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data.”
Because he already caved into censorship pressure.
Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data. https://t.co/RTTGIaD0gA https://t.co/iPb5NIxIJN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024
In 2023, as 33 state attorneys general launched a joint lawsuit against Meta alleging harmful effects on kids across its platforms, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez (D) had filed his one suit that alleged Meta “Enabled adults to find, message, and groom minors, soliciting them to sell pictures or participate in pornographic videos.
“Meta and its CEO tell the public that Meta’s social media platforms are safe and good for kids,” read the filing. “The reality is far different. Meta knowingly exposes children to the twin dangers of sexual exploitation and mental health harm. Meta’s conduct has turned New Mexico children who are on its platforms into victims. Meta’s motive for doing so is profit.”
Along with Torrez’s claim that platforms like Instagram had become “prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,” Musk had linked to the House Energy & Commerce Committee that had shared findings of a Wall Street Journal report asserting, “Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network.”
The takeaways from the report included allegations that Instagram’s algorithms were active in promoting illicit content, the facilitated connecting users in the market for child pornography through the allowance of explicit hashtags, allowed use of search terms of potentially harmful and illegal content and Meta admitted a failure to combat inappropriate content while not enforcing their policies.
Meanwhile, as Musk pulled X employees from Brazil rather than cave to government efforts against free speech, crackdowns in Europe had included the arrest of Durov who’d alleged earlier this year that the FBI had pressured him to provide backdoor access to user data.
“We got too much attention from the FBI, the security agencies, wherever we came to the U.S.” he explained to Tucker Carlson in an interview. “So to give you an example, last time I was in the U.S., I brought an engineer that is working for Telegram, and there was an attempt to secretly hire my engineer behind my back by cyber security officers or agents.”
“They were curious to learn which open-source libraries are integrated into the Telegram’s app, you know, on the client’s side,” Durov continued. “And they were trying to persuade him to use certain open-source tools that he would then integrate into the Telegram’s code that, in my understanding, would serve as backdoors.”
Furthering his contention that speech suppression was a higher priority to governments than protecting children from predators and exploitation, Musk reacted “Nope” to a question about a competitor platform that read, “Did the authorities do anything about Mastodon or nah?”
The question captioned a headline that stated, “Majority of Content on Twitter Competitor Mastodon Is Child Porn, Report Finds.”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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