Photo: ddp images — Sipa USA via AP file
Elon Musk, who recently purchased the social media giant Twitter, has been busy making changes to the site that has caused outrage by many on the left. One significant change, was the temporary suspension of several left-leaning journalists who took part in doxxing Musk and his family.
On December 13th, Elon Musk’s son, who is a toddler, was put in harm’s way by the Twitter users dedicated to sharing the Musk’s real-time location.
The Twitter CEO explained in a tweet that a stalker followed the location of a vehicle carrying his young son. Thinking Musk was also in the vehicle, the stalker blocked the car from driving away and claimed onto the hood of the vehicle, threatening the safety those inside.
This act of releasing an individual’s private, personal information on the internet or with the public with malicious intent is known as “doxxing.” An example would be disseminating real-time location, like in Musk’s case, but sharing a person’s phone number, place of employment, home address, or a child’s school name and location, are other examples of doxxing.
Musk was so disturbed by the incident that he restricted the Twitter accounts of several journalists who shared the private information and also shared a new policy which attempts to reign in internet doxxing.
This is fairly simple concept, threatening the safety and privacy of another person should be punished by temporary suspension. That did not stop the firestorm on the left however, the move was called “an attack on free speech” and “the end of democracy as we know it” by liberal media pundits and journalists. I suppose when conservative individuals, politicians, or anonymous accounts (e.g. Libs of TikTok) were doxxed, suspended, or removed from social platforms all together, democracy was somehow protected. Now that the left has had to taste its own medicine however, “our democracy” is apparently under attack.
Even if this First Amendment argument applied to Twitter, Elon would be with his rights to restrict this real-time doxxing because it falls under one of the very limited exceptions to the first amendment.
There are some important things to know about free speech before we begin asserting that it is under attack. First and foremost, we need to recognize that hate speech is not a real thing. It’s a fabricated liberal talking point used to restrict speech that they find unsavory or outside of their prescribed political narrative. True limits on free speech are few and far between.
The most famous limitation comes from the case of Schenck v. United States where “yelling fire in a crowded theater” is not protected speech, because principal purpose is to create panic. This case was later partially overruled by Brandenburg v. Ohio, which limits speech that would be likely to encourage imminent, lawless action.
Doxxing a person in real-time certainly has the potential to result in harm, and would create panic under the Schenck standard. Additionally, it would be considered inciting imminent lawless action under the Brandenburg standard.
The journalists were suspended for an incredibly short period of time before being allowed to access their Twitter accounts once again. This all means that the outrage mob on left is once again misguided, and do not have facts, logic, or reason on their side.
