Elon: Multiple third parties, using full data sets, have also concluded the same that impressions on Antisemitic content is down.
Elon challenges anyone who claims the opposite to provide evidence.
Elon points out that Walter Isaacson, who apparently is Jewish, spent 2 years following Elon and speaking to his contacts. Walter didn’t find any evidence Elon is Antisemitic.
Elon also says he first visited Israel when he was 13.
Shapiro: Where do you draw the line on hate speech like Antisemitism?
Elon: There isn’t an easy answer. One person’s free speech is another person’s hate speech.
Elon: We start with the obvious slurs and no-brainers, and then the operating principle is to follow the laws of the country we’re in. That’s more free in the US, but laws are different in other countries.
Elon: The best way to combat hate speech is to hear it and then explain why it’s not true, rather than someone harbouring those views opinions and never hearing a rebuttal.
Elon: We do a lot of foolish things at X, some have been in place for 10 years, and we can’t fix everything at once. E.g there’s a list of “bad words”, not safe for advertising, which needs to be trimmed.
Elon: The list includes words and terms that are Antisemitic in nature. If a post contains those, it can be deboosted in the algorithm. However, there is also value in not being draconian, because it can encourage people to change their minds.
Elon: Advertisers are very skittish. One article in a medium sized newspaper can be enough to scare an advertiser away from spending on X.
Elon: Some advertisers are less sensitive than others. There should be degrees of advertiser safety. There should be different costs - there could even be advertising next to NSFW posts, but the advertising per impression will be cheaper than next to safe content.
Shapiro: What does “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach” mean?
Elon: We’re trying to deal with this algorithmically. If we show people content that makes them want to leave X and hammer them with hate speech - they won’t like that.
Shapiro: How can X resist government influence?
Elon: Our policy is to deny government censorship to the extent allowed by law. In the US, most of the pressure comes from far-left activist groups that often act in concert.
Shapiro: What do you think about Russel Brand getting demonetized?
Elon: It should be innocent until proven guilty until a conviction.
Elon: We’re trying to make X into a force for good for civilisation - this was the goal of the acquisition. Prior to the acquisition, it was increasingly a negative force for civilisation.
Elon points out he was fully aware that acquiring Twitter was financially dubious and he could lose money. He also says he was aware he’d get a lot of flack.
Elon: It would have been deluded to think acquiring Twitter would be an easy way to make money and not attract criticism.
Elon: The goal isn’t just to stop hate speech, but to increase positive speech.
Israeli ex-president @PresidentRuvi: Where do you draw the line on Anti-semitism?
Elon: We’re open to ideas. Maybe we’re not drawing the line in the best place right now, but it’s not terrible.
@AlanDersh points out X needs to be fair to both left and right.
Elon: Before the acquisition, Twitter was very left leaning and had its thumb on the scale. In moving towards a system that is more inclusive, that is technically moving right - but in reality moving to the centre.
Elon: Our goal is to look back in 10 years and say X is a positive force for civilization. Think we’re making progress towards that. But it’s important to have a critical feedback loop.
