Leftists Can’t Stand It When They Can’t Control Speech
By Chris Queen
Elon Musk’s attempts to buy Twitter have grabbed headlines for months now, and Kanye West’s pending purchase of Parler has been a watercooler topic this week too.
Because both Musk and West aren’t of the left — I hesitate to call either one of them conservative — leftists are freaking out at the idea of these men taking over social media platforms (even less prominent ones like Parler).
A new article over at the Daily Beast doesn’t even bother to conceal the left’s disdain for non-wokes buying social media outlets. Jared Holt and Tim Squirrell — we’ll explore who they are in a minute — drip with contempt for anything that isn’t of the far left.
A past-his-prime rap star moving to buy a third-tier social media site—run by the husband of his far-right conspiracy theorist friend Candace Owens—is not a sign of tidal change in online influence. But as a slew of red-pilled billionaires with a yen for authoritarianism (Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, former President Donald Trump) chisel their way into the social media market, it’s even more urgent to assess the power and influence that’s consolidated at the top levels of these companies.
These private organizations serve, in great part, as our public squares, and yet there is almost no public oversight over how these companies are run.