What is X optimizing for?
“Maximizing for long-term unregretted user seconds…”
— Elon Musk, 1 November 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Subjects / Free Speech
Free Speech
31 answers
Can I see if my X account has reach limits?
“You can now find out if any reach limitations have been applied to your account…”
— Elon Musk, 30 October 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Can I send someone money with a like on X?
“We’re adding long press on like to send someone $1 via 𝕏 Money”
— Elon Musk, 25 October 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
How does X decide what shows up in my feed?
“Two important changes to timeline recommendations: - New AI/SI ranking model that predicts probable time spent much better - Retrieval model trained to surface posts people read all the way through User active seconds is growing exponentially and hitting all-time highs almost every day”
— Elon Musk, 20 October 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why is free speech so important?
“This censorship law is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The real goal is to enable the UK government to track everyone.”
— Elon Musk, 15 June 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why is free speech so important?
“When violence is categorized accurately, this unequivocally true. You know who the bad guys are, because they’re the ones who want censorship of free speech.”
— Elon Musk, 27 April 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What do you think of legacy media?
“You are the media now. They are the past.”
— Elon Musk, 9 December 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
On who is for free speech
“…the left historically up until I don't know maybe even 10 years ago or something like that was the Free Speech party and now it's the anti-free speech party…”
— Elon Musk, 4 November 2024 · Watch: Joe Rogan Experience #2223 - Elon Musk · 38:14 ↗ · In the archive
Why is free speech so important?
“It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward 𝕏 posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries”
— Elon Musk, 25 August 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why is free speech so important?
“A reminder that free speech in America is special and we need to do everything possible to preserve it”
— Elon Musk, 19 August 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why are you involved in politics at all?
“That guy doesn’t get it. I would prefer to have zero involvement in politics. HOWEVER There is no “company success” unless civilization itself continues to progress. This insane shift by the “left” away from a meritocracy and personal liberties (eg censorship of free speech under the guise of “hate speech”) will be the end of civilization as we know it.”
— Elon Musk, 3 August 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What is the point of free speech?
“…the only free speech is only relevant the first amendment is only relevant if you allow people you don't like to say things you don't like…”
— Elon Musk, 31 October 2023 · Watch: Joe Rogan Experience #2054 - Elon Musk · 50:36 ↗ · In the archive
Why are some people rating X one star?
“I suspect their issues go beyond logo design. They hate that there is even one free speech platform.”
— Elon Musk, 30 August 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
xAI launch Spaces: FISA requests
“…we will respond to FISA requests, but we're not going to rubber stamp it any like it used to be.”
— Elon Musk, 14 July 2023 · Watch: xAI launch X Spaces (2023) · 37:10 ↗ · In the archive
xAI Spaces: government demands
“…a lot of it actually does depend on the willingness of a company to oppose government demands in the US and obviously our willingness will be high.”
— Elon Musk, 14 July 2023 · Watch: xAI launch X Spaces (2023) · 38:13 ↗ · In the archive
Will X protect anonymous accounts?
“This platform will protect anons for this reason particularly”
— Elon Musk, 9 July 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Do social media companies censor?
“With the exception of this platform, large social media companies gladly engage in heavy censorship”
— Elon Musk, 7 July 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
On content moderation / free speech
“I'm generally a fan of that we should have a free speech as much as possible…”
— Elon Musk, 16 June 2023 · Watch: FULL ELON MUSK TALK AT VIVA TECHNOLOGY 2023 · 31:52 ↗ · In the archive
Why do you tweet things that could hurt your companies?
“Offer me money, offer me power, I don’t care. I will say what I want to say. If the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”
— Elon Musk, 16 May 2023 · Watch: CNBC on YouTube (3:05) ↗ · In the archive
Are you playing both sides of the political aisle?
“Crazy theory – maybe I’m just centrist? Also, when did free speech become right-wing? That was the weirdest switcheroo ever.”
— Elon Musk, 23 February 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What do you think of Community Notes?
“In general, Community Notes is a game changer for combating wrong information.”
— Elon Musk, 21 February 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why does free speech matter so much to you?
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy. It is a fundamental defense against autocracy & statism, which is why we must fight so hard to preserve it. The founders showed great wisdom, based on painful historical lessons, in passing the First Amendment.”
— Elon Musk, 18 February 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Twitter Spaces with George Hotz (Dec 2022): speech policy
“…my general philosophy on that is that we should hew close to the law in any given country…”
— Elon Musk, 21 December 2022 · Watch: X Spaces with George Hotz (2022) · 42:01 ↗ · In the archive
Did you step down as head of Twitter?
“Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll. I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”
— Elon Musk, 18 December 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Is Twitter suppressing speech a First Amendment violation?
“Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is”
— Elon Musk, 3 December 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What did you say when the Twitter deal closed?
“the bird is freed”
— Elon Musk, 28 October 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why rename it X?
“Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app”
— Elon Musk, 4 October 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
What do you mean by "free speech"?
“By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”
— Elon Musk, 26 April 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why did you buy Twitter?
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
— Elon Musk, 25 April 2022 · Press release (PR Newswire) ↗ · In the archive
Do you want your critics on the platform?
“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means”
— Elon Musk, 25 April 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
Why so many memes?
“Who controls the memes, controls the Universe”
— Elon Musk, 26 June 2020 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive