(NEW YORK)– PEN America Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Nossel made the following comment in response to news that Elon Musk will buy Twitter in a $44 billion deal: “Elon Musk will learn the same lesson about self-governing social media as he has about self-driving vehicles, which is that they unavoidably crash. Musk is right that our current systems of content moderation are biased and flawed, but the idea that the rules can be swept away wholesale is fallacy. Social media is valuable not just as a place where you can say your piece, but as an arena for reasoned give-and-take that, in its best form, can help elevate good ideas, expose falsehoods and spark insights. Experience has shown that realizing those benefits requires guardrails. If he does take over Twitter, Musk should focus on augmenting and refining content moderation systems, rather than on a fantasy of dismantling them.”
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, [email protected], 201-247-5057