How not to counter the political sway of Elon Musk’s X

Since billionaire Elon Musk endorsed Republican campaigner Donald Trump successful the US statesmanlike contention successful July, X, the societal media level Musk owns, has travel nether adjacent much scrutiny. Many critics person accused him of weaponising the level for his governmental goals and utilizing it to beforehand right-wing politicians helium favours.

Amid this scrutiny, Musk’s clash with the Brazilian authorities has travel to the fore. In August, a Brazilian tribunal suspended X aft its refusal to region contented and accounts that were deemed to dispersed “disinformation”, incitement to transgression activities and perceived threats to democracy.

Facing a nationwide prohibition successful 1 of its largest markets and mounting fines, Musk yet threw successful the towel and acceded to the court’s demands.

Many connected the near successful Brazil, the United States and elsewhere celebrated the triumph of the Brazilian state, backing its actions successful the sanction of “digital sovereignty” and “independence”. While I hold that outsized power successful governmental affairs of societal media giants should beryllium countered, the attack of the Brazilian authorities is not the mode to bash it. If anything, specified tribunal orders pave the mode for indiscriminate authorities censorship of societal media platforms that volition bash much harm than bully to state of look and ideology just politics.

State censorship

To beryllium clear, X has carried retired censorship successful other countries earlier this latest contention successful Brazil, targeting individuals, governmental groups and movements. It is doubtful that Musk’s defiance of the Brazilian court’s bid came retired of interest for the wellbeing of Brazilians and their close to escaped speech.

Yet the censorship requests made by Brazil’s Supreme Court person besides been troublesome. In April, it requested the suspension of accounts belonging to supporters of erstwhile Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arsenic portion of an probe into “digital militias” that supported attempted coup activities successful January 2023. The details of this probe person not been afloat revealed.

The tribunal has besides made different requests earlier that bash not basal up to scrutiny. Documents obtained by the Brazilian property uncover that successful 2022, Supreme Justice Alexandre de Moraes had sought to artifact the X relationship of fashionable gospel vocalist Davi Sacer – a Bolsonaro protagonist – for retweeting posts encouraging protests against Brazilian ministers attending a league successful New York. The aforesaid justice ordered the prohibition connected the X accounts of the left-wing Workers’ Cause Party for criticising the Supreme Court.

Over the past fewer years, Moraes, a blimpish who antecedently administered constabulary repression successful Sao Paulo, has consolidated the powerfulness to prohibition disfavoured code crossed the Brazilian internet, arsenic the arbiter and enforcer of which contented should beryllium removed arsenic “disinformation”. If his run against escaped code connected societal media is not reined in, determination is small that volition forestall him and the judiciary from expanding their censorship powers.

They whitethorn beryllium chiefly targeting the acold close successful Brazil close now, but this tin easy change. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who backed Moraes’s actions against X, is presently facing disapproval from biology defenders and governmental forces to the near of him. If they organise forceful absorption to his pro-capitalist agenda, subject constabulary initiatives, and environmentally destructive policies, past we tin expect they, too, volition beryllium taxable to societal media censorship.

Free code is indispensable for democracy

As American student Noam Chomsky and others person documented, a capitalist media strategy concentrates media ownership to manufacture consent. Yet adjacent erstwhile the firm media suppresses important facts and perspectives, if the authorities supports escaped speech, the nationalist inactive has the accidental to exposure falsehoods and explicit alternate opinions. In this case, dissent is marginalised, alternatively than banned altogether.

However, erstwhile the authorities gets involved, we tin easy extremity up with afloat censorship of dissent. If a authorities assumes the relation of a azygous arbiter and authorization connected “truth”, past it tin usage this powerfulness to soundlessness anyone who challenges it. In this way, each media – whether accepted oregon societal – is astatine hazard of efficaciously becoming authorities media.

It is existent that Big Social Media has excessively overmuch powerfulness to signifier the travel of information. Yet, upholding “digital sovereignty” and defying digital colonialism cannot mean imposing the volition of the authorities to suppress governmental opposition, adjacent if it is connected the acold right.

If determination is so amerciable code connected a societal media platform, past it should beryllium prosecuted successful a court, wherever defendants person a just trial. “Fake news” is simply a existent problem, but if the code is not illegal, it’s not the concern of the authorities to scrub it from the internet. There are different mechanisms to combat this issue.

Those of america connected the near whitethorn deem Musk and the far-right politicians helium backs similar Bolsonaro and Trump arsenic a menace to nine and the planet, but normalising authorities censorship of politically disfavoured code successful the sanction of “digital sovereignty” sets a unsafe precedent. It creates abstraction for this conception to beryllium exploited to “protect society” against unpopular oregon arguable views.

Let america retrieve that we unrecorded successful a satellite wherever 67 countries person anti-LGBTQ laws criminalising same-sex relations betwixt consenting adults, portion galore Western “democracies” weaponise accusations of anti-Semitism to suppress the Palestinian solidarity movement. In Israel, astir 60 percent of the colonisation favours censoring societal media posts sympathetic to the Palestinians successful Gaza. Should governments person the close to censor posts astir LGBTQ rights oregon the genocide against the Palestinian people, successful the sanction of protecting “national security” and “democracy”?

One person’s “fake news” tin beryllium another’s “truth”, which is wherefore states indispensable not beryllium fixed the authorization to censor societal media.

Digital sovereignty from below

To reason authorities overreach is not to suggest that Musk and X did not besides defy the Brazilian authorities successful ways that are highly questionable. The afloat communicative is analyzable and overmuch of the item is sealed distant from the nationalist view.

That said, determination are ways to propulsion for genuine integer sovereignty and reason the overwhelming powerfulness wielded by Big Social Media companies that bash not impact state-driven sponsorship.

Grassroots activists should property for societal media decentralisation laws that mandate interoperability betwixt and wrong societal media networks. This would mean that immoderate idiosyncratic of immoderate societal media web would beryllium capable to spot and interact with the users and contented published by immoderate different network. As a result, companies similar X and Meta volition nary longer person a monopoly connected societal media publishing.

Interoperability coupled with nationalist subsidies and bans connected platform-based advertizing tin besides decommodify the societal media landscape, reducing the immense profits Big Social Media is making.

A assortment of autarkic fact-checking organisations and tools could beryllium supported and chosen by societal media platforms oregon their members to incorporate the dispersed of propaganda and disinformation.

Alongside these changes, the near needs a stronger imaginativeness and strategy to decolonise the planetary integer economy. I’ve suggested a Digital Tech Deal arsenic a blueprint that would signifier retired the backstage ownership of the means of computation and cognition arsenic portion of a sustainable digital degrowth agenda.

Much similar the biology crisis, the net is mostly borderless, and integer sovereignty cannot beryllium achieved wrong 1 country. The urgent request for drastic alteration to the integer ecosystem requires internationalist grassroots activism that targets the American tech empire astatine the core, arsenic good arsenic the strategy of integer capitalism and colonialism operating successful each country.

Authoritarian censorship masked arsenic “digital sovereignty” is not the mode to go.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.