Elon Musk announced that he will take legal action against NGOs funded by billionaire businessman George Soros, considering that they promote restrictions on freedom of expression.
The owner of X (formerly known as Twitter) was responding to a post by journalist Michael Shellenberger about how Soros-funded NGOs and politicians are trying to justify censorship on the grounds that hate crimes need to be mitigated.
"Politicians and George Soros-funded NGOs say 'hate incidents' are rising, but they're not. The data show the opposite: higher-than-ever and rising levels of tolerance of minorities. The reason they're spreading hate misinformation is to justify a draconian crackdown on free speech," Shellenberg said.
Elon Musk responded to the journalist's opinion by showing that he completely agrees and that it is precisely for that reason that X will file legal action. "Can't wait for discovery to start!" the social network owner added.
Exactly.
X will be filing legal action to stop this. Can’t wait for discovery to start! https://t.co/ROxXEuO8it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2023
Shellenberg's opinion was based on an article titled "Soros-funded NGOs demand crackdown on free speech as politicians spread hate misinformation."
The article by journalist Ben Scallan explains that Soros would be promoting a censorship agenda in both Ireland and Scotland through the Open Society Foundations, arguing over the alleged increase in hate crimes. However, Scallan's text highlights that the increase in statistics is not because the actual number of crimes has grown but that local authorities have encouraged citizens to report these misbehaviors.
Scallan said all the "hype about hate is a pretext" for new laws restricting freedom of expression and making it easier to prosecute and convict.
