The so-called “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk is threatening to sue over a headline he personally didn’t like.
It’s a new year, new opportunities, and new chances to showcase why the far right hates free speech when it involves speech they personally do not like. The war on free speech was something we’ve been covering on the latter half of 2024 with the last update being about how Trump is suing a pollster for the crime of being wrong about a poll.
That war, unsurprisingly, is continuing into the new year with Musk threatening to sue Business Insider over an early report of a Tesla fire. All reporters knew at the time was that a Tesla Cybertruck vehicle near a Trump hotel in Las Vegas caught fire and exploded. So, reporters were reporting that news as such with headlines reflecting what was known at the time.
The problem is, Elon Musk didn’t personally like such a headline and suggested that he was thinking of suing the publication for defamation. From TechDirt:
But, for there to be actual defamation, there needs to be a false statement of fact (and, likely, published knowing or deeply suspecting it was false). Nothing in the headline: “Tesla Cybertruck explosion in front of Trump hotel in Las Vegas leaves 1 dead, 7 injured” is false. It’s all factual.
Senator Mike Lee, who once presented himself as a supporter of free speech and the First Amendment, also jumped into the fray suggesting the NYT v. Sullivan’s “actual malice” standard should fall, allowing Musk to sue over similar headlines
I mean, first of all, Elon Musk isn’t even mentioned, so it’s difficult to say that this would be defamation against Elon. Second, that was the original AP headline, right after the event occurred, when that was basically all that was known: a Cybertruck did, indeed, catch fire outside of the Trump Hotel. At that moment it wasn’t even known that the bed was full of explosive materials.
But also, everything in there is factual.
And, yes, you can argue that the eventual framing is misleading or even unfair. But that’s how free speech works. There are tons of headlines that people feel are misleading or unfair. I call them out, and I also get accused of misleading headlines. That’s how free speech works. People sometimes don’t like the way other people frame things or title things.
But none of that is defamatory.
Indeed, everything about the suggestion of a lawsuit screams SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). It’s the use of defamation to try and silence someone over speech you personally don’t like – and using the costly litigation process to bury that voice. Not everyone is a rich multi-millionaire and, as such, most people can’t afford to defend themselves no matter how right they are.
This isn’t even taking into consideration the amount of power and influence someone like Musk has. Indeed, far right extremists have become emboldened to try and silence speech they don’t like thanks to the Trump election victory and some, including Trump himself, have already begun working to ratchet up the war on free speech to silence voices they personally do not like. What’s worse is the fact that Trump hasn’t even taken full power yet, signalling that worse could be coming in the future. We certainly hope not, but things aren’t looking good at this point.
