Elon Musk's latest spat with authorities in Brazil over X's content moderation has concluded predictably enough: with Musk buckling to government demands. No doubt he will try to spin it as some kind of principled stand. The reality is, it's just another example of Musk's inflated ego writing checks his business can't cash.
Musk never had any intention of killing X in Brazil for good.
That's a gigantic market, and quite frankly, he can't afford to lose it. All that bluster about free speech and defying censorship was just hot air, fabricated to fire up his base. Where it comes to push, Musk folded like a cheap suit.
The whole episode epitomizes Musk's utter incompetence at running a social media platform. It was the refusal to bow to local laws and court orders that got X completely banned in Brazil for weeks. That was one giant screw-up that has cost the company millions in lost revenue and users.
It's a ham-fisted approach that has handed a gift to X's competitors. The number of new users signing up for Tumblr and Bluesky skyrocketed as Brazilians looked for alternatives.
Even if it does go back online in Brazil within the not-too-distant future, there is no guarantee those users will return. In his recklessness, Musk has dealt lasting damage to both the user base and reputation of the platform.
But the sad irony here is that Musk's crusade for "free speech" likely made X, in the future of Brazil, a more restrictive and tightly moderated platform. In order to get unbanned, X agreed to block some accounts and crack down on content the government of Brazil deems problematic.
So much for Musk's lofty ideals about unfettered expression.
That is a definite pattern we just keep on seeing from Musk time and again.
He does that bombastic declaration of free speech and standing up to authority, but the moment his bottom line is threatened, he immediately folds. We saw it in China, where X/Twitter easily folded to every government demand about the censorship of its platform. Now we see it in Brazil.
The reality is that he cares infinitely more about protecting his business interests and stroking his ego than some kind of principled stand on behalf of free expression. He's glad to further align himself with extremists and conspiracy theorists when it suits him. But the moment that threatens his profits, out the window those alliances go.
His erratic managing bruised the credibility of X as a platform.
Arbitrarily changing the systems of verification and amplification means creating literally the worst possible breeding ground imaginable for misinformation and fringe views. Because of his several ill-thought-through policies, Holocaust denial and other vile content rack up millions of views with alarming regularity.
What was once a helpful tool in establishing the authenticity of an account has become meaningless in the days of Musk's regime. Now, every crackpot that can afford $8 can buy the illusion of credibility and algorithmic boosting, creating a surefire way to amplify some of the worst voices of society.
Musk tweets this as if it's some kind of victory, but let's get real, this is a humiliating climbdown that thoroughly exposes his hypocrisy.
By reckless action with no thought for the consequences, he has managed single-handedly to weaken X's position in Brazil and gift market share to competitors.
What a free speech warrior he turned out to be.