Get Off Twitter Now!

I have been waiting, along with millions of others, to learn some specifics about what Elon Musk wants to do with Twitter. First Amendment cant does not impress me very much. Zuckerberg has been using it for years, apparently not understanding that the First Amendment does not apply to Facebook/Meta because it is a private company, not a government. (The First Amendment only applies to the government entities.) And notwithstanding his more recent correction to a culture of freedom of expression, his “community standards” do not comport with First Amendment jurisprudence.

Musk is both smarter and more intentional about mapping the policy of Twitter on First Amendment law. Nothing else evidences that fact more than his declaration that he is going to reinstate Donald Trump.

My objection to Trump is not policy based—it is his total inability to speak from evidence and to manufacture only those points that serve his warped mental processes. I ran for Congress because as a cybersecurity policy specialist, I could not tolerate his rejection of Russian interference in our elections. Fast-forward, and according to The Guardian, 40 percent of people believe our 2020 election was stolen. Myriad articles have recently come out revealing how that whole notion took shape—read, for one, ProPublica’s “Building the ‘Big Lie:’ Inside the Creation of Trump’s Stolen Election Myth.” I am opposed to having Trump back on Twitter because as a person of such influence, he is a menace to our democratic republic.

I know that the transition to Musk has not occurred yet. But we cannot wait to show our resistance. I will have to write something thoughtful for Twitter, which might take a day or two, but I can tell you core of the message right now. I am getting off in protest.