Well it’s new year, and I was going to blog about some of the thinking I’d done around Postdigital leadership (maybe later) but instead I am struck that we are reaching new lows in public discourse and debate.
Free speech is not a shield for abuse; it is a principle built on mutual respect and accountability.
The erosion of accountability from those who wield influence, wealth, and power; politicians and other public figures. The recent remarks by Musk about MP Jess Phillips and Kier Starmer, calling Phillips a Rape Apologist, and accusing Starmer of “complicit in the rape of Britain”, represent a new low in social media’s toxic underbelly.
There was a time that all of UK Parliament would have condemned those remarks of their peers, not so the right wing Farage who refused to denounce Musk’s rhetoric, instead lauding him as a “free speech hero.” And all the opposition Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp MP, could muster as support for his peers was “the language about Jess Phillips was “not appropriate”.
It’s clear now, with the change of administration in the US, that Musk and the 47th will weaponise platforms like X (Twitter) to attack individuals, groups and governments amplifying harassment under the guise of “free speech”. Farage’s silence, and the Tories mealy mouthed response is a tacit approval, and speaks volumes. Normalising this kind of language and approach is straight out of the right wing dictators handbook.
Twitter has become an unckecked cesspool of hate under Musk’s “leadership”, and with Meta and Zuckerberg donating $1mill to Trump’s fund how long before Facebook going the same way?
We should demand better from our politicians and public figures, and our platforms, our public squares! But honestly, we let them into power, every time we let a hate comment go unchallenged, ignore a racist remark. When we do not challenge our organisations who are still on, and tacitly supporting these billionaires and their platforms, we give people like Musk power.
I don’t have an answer, but I am going to be challenging a lot more this year.
Happy new year!