Journalist banned from X says ‘free speech advocate’ Musk is a hypocrite

A respected investigative journalist has branded Elon Musk a free speech hypocrite after X (formerly Twitter) blocked his account for criticizing Telegram’s controversial content policy.

Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev claimed he was blocked for complaining about Telegram’s facilitation of child pornography and suggested that the ban was hypocritical of Musk after he called the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov an attack on freedom of speech.

“Elon Musk is thrashing France for wanting Telegram to do LITERALLY what he’s doing,” posted Grozev.

Grozev argues that it isn’t controversial to remove freedom of speech for people with Telegram channels containing the words “underage girls.” However, Musk, who has labeled himself a free speech advocate, has called for the Russian entrepreneur’s release on the grounds that moderation is “a propaganda word for censorship.” 

According to X, Grozev’s post violated its child sexual exploitation policy and he was forced to delete it in order to unlock his account. He was also told he could appeal the restriction.

Read more: Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested, conspiracy theorists do their thing

Durov was arrested last Saturday. According to prosecutors, the investigation is looking into allegations of child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions on the platform.

Forbes reports that authorities are repeatedly discovering examples of AI-generated child porn being distributed through Telegram channels.

However, it also says that, unlike Meta and TikTok, Telegram has seemingly failed to police this content, accusing it of ignoring law enforcement requests for user data.

According to reports, it has also refused to sign up to international programs to detect and remove online child abuse material, and it has declined to join the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) or the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

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