Elon Musk Vows to Sue George Soros-Funded NGOs Over Free Speech

Elon Musk said that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, would sue organizations funded by financier George Soros that allegedly pushed for a crackdown on free speech.

Mr. Musk, who bought Twitter last year in a pledge to make the platform a bastion of free speech, said in a post on X on Aug. 23 that he agrees with the view expressed by investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger that George Soros-funded NGOs have been falsely claiming that “hate incidents” are on the rise in order to push restrictions of free expression.

“Politicians & George Soros-funded NGOs say ‘hate incidents’ are rising, but they’re not,” Mr. Shellenberger wrote in his post. “The data show the opposite: higher-than-ever and rising levels of tolerance of minorities. The reason they’re spreading hate misinformation is to justify a draconian crackdown on free speech.”

Mr. Musk reacted to the post by signaling his agreement and pledging to sue.

“Exactly,” Mr. Musk wrote. “X will be filing legal action to stop this. Can’t wait for discovery to start!”

In making his assertion, Mr. Shellenberger shared an article by Irish journalist Ben Scallan, who wrote that NGOs backed by Open Society Foundations (which was founded by Mr. Soros), are pushing a “censorship agenda” in Ireland and Scotland that includes police searches of homes and personal devices like homes.

Mr. Scallan’s article does not specify which Soros-funded NGOs are supposedly engaged in pushing a “censorship agenda.” Neither did Mr. Shellenberger nor Mr. Musk.

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Mr. Scallan’s article says that Irish leaders, including Justice Minister Helen McEntee, have asserted that hate-based offenses are on the rise in Ireland. They point to a reported 29 percent increase in hate crimes in 2022 compared to the previous year.

However, Mr. Scallan argues that an increase in reporting of hate offenses doesn’t necessarily mean an actual increase in hate crimes, in part because the threshold for classifying something as a hate offense is low, requiring little evidence beyond someone’s claim.

He wrote that the police and government in Ireland have been urging people to report hate incidents for years, and the police have set a goal to increase the number of reported hate crimes, which may have contributed to the reported increase in hate-based offenses.

The journalist also highlighted research indicating that people today are more likely to label things as “harmful” and “hateful” than in the past, suggesting a broader cultural shift in perceptions about what constitutes such an offense.

Mr. Scallan, who is a mixed-race Irish journalist, said there’s no good evidence supporting the claim that there’s been an increase in hate crimes in Ireland, particularly against migrants.

He argues that the heightened focus on hate speech might serve as a pretext for the Irish government’s push to enact strict hate speech laws, which would criminalize possessing “hateful material” and impose penalties for refusal to provide device passwords to authorities.

The proposed law (pdf), called the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offenses) Bill 2022, has been criticized for potentially restricting free speech and reversing the burden of proof, placing the onus on the accused to prove their innocence.

Ms. McEntee, the Irish prime minister, has advocated for the measure.

“It’s hard to believe that despite increasing instances of hate crime and general support from the public to criminalize such acts, Ireland doesn’t yet have hate crime laws in place and will be one of the last countries in Europe to enact such legislation,” she said in a speech in mid-June.

While Ireland has had legislation in place against hate speech for nearly 35 years, Ms. McEntee said it has been “ineffective, limited and largely discredited.”

“We bear a responsibility, as legislators, to do our utmost to provide for a safe, fair and inclusive country for all,” she said while claiming that the legislation has been “subject to deliberate misinformation and distortion, including from fringe commentators and US-based social media personalities.”