Free Speech Galaxy Brain Elon Musk Promises Lawsuit Against Advertisers For Not Giving Him Their Money

Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk took to his zombie Twitter engine this morning to reaffirm his working definition of free speech that “the law should punish anyone who doesn’t like what I say.” Which may not be the best — or indeed even a coherent — definition of free speech, but it is one that he believes absolutely.

When Musk first spouted off about suing advertisers fleeing his toxic brand back in 2022, we pointed out that he is not a lawyer and is a moron. Having seen the evidence unearthed today… that assessment holds.

The “evidence” Musk identifies here is unsupported conjecture from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro claiming that legacy media, elected officials, and social media platforms engage in a coordinated effort to keep private corporations from giving their money to people like Shapiro. It must, of course, be a conspiracy preventing businesses from giving him cash. As opposed to, you know, mainstream corporations simply not wanting to hand their money to a guy that calls being gay a mental illness in a country where over 70 percent of the population supports same-sex marriage.

Or, in Musk’s case, advertisers simply taking him at his word.

Compelling private actors to hand you money is not free speech and is, in fact, a violation of the advertisers’ free speech rights. This holds true whether it’s Apple distancing itself from a site overrun by white supremacists or Chick-fil-A refusing to sponsor RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In a flawed attempt to circumvent this, Shapiro offers a convoluted conspiracy theory casting businesses as incompetent victims of duress. Terminally attention starved law professor Jonathan Turley trotted out the same wingnut theory a few years back, casting private companies as anti-free speech if they choose not to give their money to Musk. As Turley argued, a private advertiser’s “choice” isn’t entitled to protection if they were responding to public pressure. Or as the companies call them: their customers. But for Turley — and Shapiro — businesses shouldn’t be listening to customers because customers have wrongthink opinions they get from nebulous woke elites practicing the evil art of “offering evidence and being persuasive.” I mean… we don’t want free speech to turn into some kind of “marketplace of ideas” here or anything!

As we explained at the time:

This, of course, turns the whole concept on its head. Free speech means the government can’t prevent the Nazis from marching in Skokie — free speech does not mean the government should punish people for protesting those Nazis marching in Skokie and it definitely doesn’t mean companies should be compelled to hire Nazis.

Unfortunately, this is the funhouse mirror brand of “free speech” championed within the right-wing echo chamber. And that echo chamber includes more than a few powerful officials these days. Several judges have embarked in publicity stunt boycotts over “free speech” issues on campus — query why consumer boycotts are evil and taxpayer-funded officials launching boycotts are fine — complaining that schools need to do more to stop students from protesting hate groups on campus. Free speech, by their reasoning, exists for only a certain class of speaker. The speaker with the stage, the microphone, the radio show, the cable network… this is the speaker with rights and this is the speaker that deserves, by force of law if necessary, the right to an audience of docile bullshit receptacles. It’s an authoritarian vision of free speech, where the function of the right is to silence any voice that might inconvenience the privileged.

Bringing us full circle back to Musk, the world’s richest person, who concludes his message today hoping for “criminal prosecution” because the companies he literally told to fuck themselves won’t hand him money.

Just as the Framers intended.

Earlier: Elon Musk Teases Tortious Interference Lawsuit Over Twitter Boycotts Because He’s Not A Lawyer… And Is A Moron

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.