‘He is the world’s leading free speech hypocrite’: Elon Musk’s battle with Wikipedia is part of his war on truth
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Elon Musk is angry at Wikipedia for reporting on his alleged ‘Nazi salute’. But his attacks are part of a long and troubling history of trying to suppress information he finds inconvenient, writes Io Dodds. When Elon Musk makes a claim, it's often wise to mentally add a little note on the end: citation needed.
![[Hate speech on Twitter is rising under Elon Musk’s ownership, online safety campaigners have said, despite the billionaire’s claims that it has been declining]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/12/02/14/124e3703b0604d9ae04df7c3e52f40ccY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjcwMDc0NjA0-2.69830832.jpg)
Musk has been skirmishing with Wikipedia for awhile — in October 2024 he offered a $1 billion donation to change the site's name to "Dickipedia"— but this latest attack fits into a long and worrying pattern of Musk trying to control what people see and hear about him and his businesses.
![[Then president-elect Donald Trump and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk watch a fight together at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/15/15/2193290157.jpg)
“He is the world’s leading free speech hypocrite,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, tells The Independent. “And his actions with respect to Wikipedia are further evidence of that. Musk tolerates free speech — as long as he likes the viewpoint or agrees with the political perspective, notes Stern.
"When that's the case, he is highly tolerant of inaccuracy, misinformation, criticism, even hate,” he says. “But when the subject of the speech is himself, or his agenda, his objectives, and his companies, it's quite the opposite.”. And Musk responds viscerally. "Any misstatement, any detail that he doesn't find to be entirely precise — sometimes details that that are entirely precise, but that he would prefer not be expressed — is the basis for a lawsuit, an account removal [on X], or another form of censorship,” Stern says.
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