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Twitter layoffs will shrink free speech worldwide

Elon Musk’s idea of unmoderated, unmediated speech won’t lead to empowerment in places that lack America’s constitutional protections

Promoting free speech in the US is relatively simple, given that the First Amendment is on your side. This will not be the case elsewhere in the world, says the author.

Mr Elon Musk might think the Twitter he bought crimped free speech.

PHOTO: AFP

Mihir Sharma

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Twitter –

now under new management,

if that’s the right word –

fired about half its workers over the weekend,

a big story by anyone’s standards. Yet some teams and countries suffered worse – and that is a story with global political implications.

In India, for example, Twitter seems to have

laid off 90 per cent of its employees.

In Brazil, a team of 150 was let go, according to Bloomberg Linea. Shortly after Mr Elon Musk took over the company, the number of employees with the ability to suspend or ban an account for breaches of user policies was at least temporarily reduced from “hundreds” to about 15.

Twitter layoffs will shrink free speech worldwide

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