DeSantis chose Twitter to announce 2024 run.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently announced his presidential candidacy on Twitter, citing his data-driven approach to dealing with COVID-19 as the reason for his decision. However, the announcement was not without its hiccups.

Twitter Spaces Discussion Crashes

The Twitter Spaces discussion hosted by CEO Elon Musk crashed for about 20 minutes, with the platform unable to handle the more than 600,000 listeners tuning in. Musk later attributed the glitches to “scaling issues” tied to his account.

Free Speech on Social Media

Despite the technical difficulties, Governor DeSantis praised Twitter as a bastion for free speech, which he believes is crucial, especially during the pandemic.

“If we can’t have an honest debate in a free country about issues that affect hundreds of millions of people, like lockdowns, then what good is the first amendment at that point?”

“Those are precisely the times when we needed to have debate be robust.”

DeSantis also applauded Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, stating that the platform is now in the hands of a free speech advocate.

“The truth was censored repeatedly. And now that Twitter is in the hands of a free speech advocate, [the censorship] would not be able to happen again on this Twitter platform.”

Musk responded to DeSantis’ comments, assuring him that his platform is “absolutely committed to free speech and a level playing field and just a vigorous debate.”