Vitalik Buterin criticizes Elon Musk for violating free speech and issuing a “banhammer” threat
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has criticized Elon Musk for the “tone of discourse” on X and has advised against the use of the “banhammer” to censor users.
In the midst of a contentious dialogue on his platform regarding foreign tech workers, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, urged Elon Musk to “cool it.” This has sparked a new controversy regarding free speech.
Buterin, in a post to X on December 31, expressed his admiration for Musk’s courage in advocating for freedom of expression. However, he requested that the Tesla CEO reduce the intensity of the “tone of discourse” and refrain from employing the “social media banhammer” to purportedly close down X accounts.
In a response to Musk’s X post, which defended the rights of immigrants to work in the US under H1B visas, Buterin tweeted. Musk had used profanity.
Conservatives on X were incensed by Musk’s advocacy for the employment of foreign tech professionals at prominent US companies. They contended that the hiring conditions in the United States were rapidly getting worse for native citizens.
Subsequently, numerous conservatives accused Musk of censorship after his social media platform purportedly removed premium features from accounts that criticized his stance on the H1B visa debate.
Buterin stated, “Respecting free speech is effortless when we concur with the content, but it becomes challenging when we believe it is reprehensible.”
He advised Musk to exercise greater caution in his tone and to ensure that his influence over X was used for the betterment of humanity.
The power that leaders have to shape public opinion is profound, and it can be channeled for either positive or negative ends, as Buterin pointed out.
Buterin also cited the “banhammer,” an informal term that refers to the removal of specific users for inappropriate behaviour by a moderator or administrator, as an example of an ineffective way to regulate speech.
“By the conclusion, public discourse devolves into either a perpetual war of all against all, balkanization, or monoculture, in which the victor is determined by the individual with the most powerful weapon, rather than the individual with the most compelling arguments,” stated Buterin.
On X, Musk recently altered his name to “Kekius Maximus,” a chimaera of internet culture references that combines the popular meme Pepe and Maximus Decimus Meridius, Russel Crowe’s character in the 2000 film Gladiator.
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