‘Freedom of speech is cherished’: Anand Mahindra on Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout

Mahindra Group chairperson and Padma awardee Anand Mahindra has said that free speech is being cherished and that Twitter “can permit a greater degree of participation and expression”, a day after Musk’s takeover of the San Francisco-based microblogging site.  He furthermore noted that a platform like Twitter can present hate-mongers “into public view” and will allow law enforcement agencies to act against them. 

Retweeting a poll conducted by him, Mahindra wrote, “Clearly freedom of speech is cherished. I, too, agree Twitter can permit a greater degree of participation and expression. Because censorship doesn’t suppress the hate-mongers and a platform like this can flush them out into public view allowing law enforcers to act against them.” 

He also stated, “However, society urgently needs more agencies and platforms that are dedicated exclusively to calling out fake news, fake posts and displaying fact-based information on a real time basis.” 

Mahindra had also conducted a poll after Musk’s acquisition of the platform on Tuesday. The business mogul shared the poll with the caption, “Elon Musk has promised less regulation of opinions and speech on Twitter.” the poll garnered 80.7 per cent votes in favour of the caption shared by Mahindra whereas 19.7 per cent users believed otherwise.  

He also said in another tweet that investors and analysts shall be “responsible for the state of matrimonial harmony—or disharmony—in the business world…” 

Meanwhile, Musk had earlier explained what he means by ‘free speech’ and also lashed out at those who opposed his purchase of Twitter. He said, “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.” 

He added, “By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.” 

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