In a tweet on Saturday, Elon Musk stated that he is giving “serious thought” to creating a new social media platform.
Musk’s tweet comes after he criticized Twitter, claiming that the platform does not allow for free speech.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Friday. “How should we proceed?”
He then inquired as to whether a new platform was required.
According to a 2018 agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk must obtain approval from other Tesla executives before tweeting about the company.
Musk asked his Twitter followers in November if he should sell a 10% stake in Tesla, and the electric vehicle company received a subpoena from the SEC because the poll question triggered a stock selloff, which Musk has called “harassment.”
In response to Musk’s challenge to the subpoena, an SEC regulator urged a federal judge earlier this week to allow his tweets to be scrutinized further.
The SEC stated that “Musk’s motion to quash is procedurally flawed and substantively meritless.”
If Musk goes ahead with the launch of his own platform, he will join a growing list of public figures and technology companies who are abandoning established social media networks in favor of creating their own platforms, often in the name of “free speech.”
Former President Donald Trump, who has been barred from using Twitter since January 2021, launched Truth Social as part of the Trump Media and Technology Group in February.
As alternatives to mainstream social networks, Rumble, Parler, Gettr, and other services have emerged. Parler was removed from Apple’s app store after allegations that rioters used the platform to incite violence on January 6. It was reinstated in April after the company made improvements to better detect and moderate hate speech.
