The Left are angry their ideological opponents will no longer be suppressed

The shrill response to Elon Musk’s efforts to bring a measure of transparency and balance to Twitter shows the modern Left has become dangerously anti-free speech.

Elon Musk may just accomplish the impossible – to make Twitter both ethical and profitable. The world’s richest man has set a frantic pace since taking over the social media giant in late October and began by dramatically reducing Twitter’s overpaid, underworked activist workforce.

The company was populated by fringe-dwelling activists who felt entitled to exercise enormous power in what has become the digital public square.

Soon, headlines across the mainstream media, from the US to Australia, predicted the imminent demise of the website – but far from collapsing, Twitter is now experiencing record traffic. Musk’s efforts to bring a measure of transparency and balance to the platform have been met with shrill hysteria.

Elon Musk has dramatically reduced Twitter’s overpaid, underworked activist workforce.

It says plenty about the totalitarian mindset of the modern Left that they are seething with anger not because they fear being subjected to the same treatment conservatives and centrists copped for years on Twitter – no, the rage stems from the fact that their ideological opponents will no longer be suppressed and silenced.

An even playing field is simply unacceptable to an ideology that has become dangerously anti-free speech. One of the first problems Musk tackled with great success was the child-exploitation material on the site.

In the past, Twitter had been guilty of refusing to take down pornographic images, including videos, of underage victims because it “didn’t find a violation” of the company’s policies. Musk’s commitment and success in purging child-exploitation material should see him commended universally but, sadly, media pundits – blinded by politics – are looking for any reason to condemn the billionaire, including publishing false accusations.

Musk may just make Twitter both ethical and profitable.

The claim that sweeping job cuts would result in “child safety being sidelined” is simply false, and many of those who have worked tirelessly to eliminate child porn from social media have praised Musk for his decisive actions.

Eliza Bleu, a human-trafficking survivor is among victims’ advocates who have noted the change on Twitter. She posted: “Reminder: a 13-year-old minor survivor begged Twitter to remove a video sexually exploiting him. Twitter reviewed the content and said NO. They had his government ID showing that he was a minor at the time. The video had over 160k views. Over 2k retweets. The department of homeland security had to step in to get Twitter to remove the video. Twitter refused to take responsibility.”

That particular case is now the subject of legal action but, sadly, it was not an isolated incident. In another case that has received little publicity, an alleged predator arrested earlier this year used the site for four years, partly to lure victims and post abuse material on his Twitter page.

Musk has set a frantic pace since taking over the social media giant in late October.

This week, Musk tweeted that it was “a crime that they (Twitter) refused to take action on child exploitation for years!” When former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey disputed that claim, Musk hit back: “When Ella Irwin, who now runs Trust & Safety, joined Twitter earlier this year, almost no one was working on child safety. She raised this with Ned (Segal) & Parag (Agrawal), but they rejected her staffing request. I made it top priority immediately.”

Musk has also made transparency a top priority and has a group of journalists sifting through thousands of documents, emails and internal communications to determine precisely what has been happening at the company including the suppression of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop stories and the banning of former president Donald Trump’s account.

The release of the “Twitter Files” has confirmed some of the worst suspicions about the site and the manner in which it targeted and silenced conservative voices.

Indeed, any voices that challenged the popular narrative – including those of leading infectious disease experts, including professors from Harvard and Stanford medical schools who argued against school closures and lockdowns – were suppressed.

Every move Musk has made has been met with a mixture of hate and hyperbole from the censorious Left. But it’s worth noting that despite the way he is being characterised, Musk is no conservative or right-wing warrior.

He has been a long-term Democrat donor and voter. He voted for Biden in 2020 and donated to Hillary Clinton in 2016, condemning Trump as not fit for the White House. But he is old school Centre-Left and still believes in fairness, free speech and rails against the vacuous woke movement, calling it a “virus” that must be defeated.