Study: Free Speech On Twitter Worse Under Elon Musk 

Following the censorship of Federalist CEO Sean Davis, several journalists, and a sitting member of Congress by Twitter for reporting on the “Trans Day Of Vengeance” after the Nashville Shooting, the Media Research Center (MRC) conducted a study on free speech on Twitter, revealing the company to have become even more oppressive since Elon Musk acquired the platform.

Between Nov. 4, 2022, and Mar. 4, 2023, there were 293 cases of documented censorship, which is 67 more cases compared to the same time period last year pre-Musk Twitter, according to data from the MRC’s Free Speech America’s CensorTrack.org database.

The MRC found Twitter’s methods of censorship also recently became more severe, with Twitter locking users’ accounts in 245 of the 293 documented cases of censorship. Additionally, 62 percent of the censorship cases under Musk’s leadership involved tweets critical of transgenderism.

On Tuesday, Federalist CEO Sean Davis, other journalists, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene were locked out of Twitter for reporting on the “Trans Day Of Vengeance” following the deaths of three children and three staff members at a Christian school in Tennessee at the hands of a transgender shooter.

Twitter claimed Davis’ tweet violated the app’s rules “against violent speech.” However, Davis and Federalist Senior Editor John Davidson have been censored on Twitter for a year due to Twitter’s insidious shadow banning practice that carried over from the platform’s previous regime.

Musk previously claimed he saw Twitter as the “de facto town square” and that “failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.” However, data from MRC shows that his “free speech absolutist” Twitter rebrand has failed to live up to the hype.

“No amount of lofty rhetoric or grandiose plans from Musk about his love of free speech and facts can compete with the cold, hard reality that the service he owns doesn’t just oppose free speech; Twitter detests it,” wrote Davis.