As “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk continues his campaign of censorship at Twitter, we’re getting an exhibition in the outsize power of billionaires to shape our politics.

Nearly a year in, self-described “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter (or, sigh, X) is going exactly as you’d expect from a boss who has again and again shown he’s a thin-skinned tyrant in the workplace. From the very beginning, Musk has been highly selective in how he’s applied his supposed free speech principles, restoring right-wing accounts while keeping left-wing ones censored, suspending accounts talking about his private jet’s flight data, and eagerly bowing to the demands of authoritarian politicians to nix content they don’t like.

Musk’s highly unusual definition of free speech absolutism continues to reign at the social media firm, as several stories in the past week alone show. According to Semafor, Musk appears to be throttling the reach of the New York Times on the platform, as evidenced by a drastic drop-off since July in shares and engagement tweets for the paper’s stories, one that no other major news outlet experienced, and which hasn’t happened on Facebook. (The data was compiled by social media engagement tracking firm NewsWhip.)

Read more at The Guardian