In an X Spaces interview with Irish media outlet Gript, Elon Musk condemned the hate speech bill that the Irish government is attempting to pass that "doesn't even define hatred."
Musk began by saying that without free speech, "you don't have a real democracy."
The interviewer then pressed Musk as to why he would take a specific interest in the Irish bill, calling it "unusual but welcome."
Musk replied that "generally, you want to be concerned about any terminology that could fit in a George Orwell novel" but also explained that X has a headquarters in Dublin.
"The thing we should be concerned about is if the Irish parliament passes a bill that defines hate speech as whatever they think hate speech is," he said. "People should be extremely concerned about that. You’re just at the mercy of the ruling party and whatever bureaucrats they put in place. And they can just define something that really is not hate speech as hate speech just because they don’t like it."
"So we’ll make sure that if there is an attempt to suppress the voice of the Irish people that we do our absolute best to defend the people of Ireland and their ability to speak their mind," Musk promised, adding that X will also "fund the legal fees of Irish citizens that want to challenge the bill as well."
"The biggest lie in the media is the choice of narrative. Because they can simply ignore anything they don’t like and they can overly focus on things that they do want to talk about," he stated.
UFC champion and MMA legend Conor McGregor applauded Musk's statements in a post on X:
McGregor teased a presidential run in Ireland back in December.
Musk began by saying that without free speech, "you don't have a real democracy."
The interviewer then pressed Musk as to why he would take a specific interest in the Irish bill, calling it "unusual but welcome."
Musk replied that "generally, you want to be concerned about any terminology that could fit in a George Orwell novel" but also explained that X has a headquarters in Dublin.
"The thing we should be concerned about is if the Irish parliament passes a bill that defines hate speech as whatever they think hate speech is," he said. "People should be extremely concerned about that. You’re just at the mercy of the ruling party and whatever bureaucrats they put in place. And they can just define something that really is not hate speech as hate speech just because they don’t like it."
"So we’ll make sure that if there is an attempt to suppress the voice of the Irish people that we do our absolute best to defend the people of Ireland and their ability to speak their mind," Musk promised, adding that X will also "fund the legal fees of Irish citizens that want to challenge the bill as well."
"The biggest lie in the media is the choice of narrative. Because they can simply ignore anything they don’t like and they can overly focus on things that they do want to talk about," he stated.
UFC champion and MMA legend Conor McGregor applauded Musk's statements in a post on X:
McGregor teased a presidential run in Ireland back in December.
