Elon Musk, the CEO of X (formerly known as Twitter), announced on Wednesday that his platform will be taking legal action against non-governmental organizations funded by George Soros.
Musk alleges that these organizations are pushing for restrictions on freedom of speech.
The announcement came after journalist and bestselling author Michael Shellenberger shared an article on X written by Ben Scallan. The article, titled "Soros-Funded NGOs Demand Crackdown on Free Speech As Politicians Spread Hate Misinformation," delves into the alleged actions of Soros' nonprofit organization, Open Society Foundations. According to Scallan, the organization has been funneling money to various NGOs in order to promote a "censorship agenda" in Ireland and Scotland. This agenda reportedly includes police searches of homes, phones, and computers.
Scallan argues that the claims made by officials about an increase in hate-based crimes in Ireland are unfounded. He asserts that the rise in reported hate-based offenses is due to an increase in reporting, not actual hate crimes or incidents. Scallan believes that politicians are using the "hype about hate" to justify passing a strict new "hate speech" law, which he describes as an "unprecedented assault" on citizens' freedom.
He highlights that the burden of proof under this law is reversed, placing the onus on the accused person to prove their own innocence if accused of planning to distribute alleged "hate" material.
In response to Scallan's article, Shellenberger expresses his disagreement with the politicians and Soros-funded NGOs. He claims that the data actually shows higher-than-ever and rising levels of tolerance towards minorities, contradicting their claims of increasing hate incidents. Shellenberger suggests that the spreading of hate misinformation is a tactic to justify a draconian crackdown on free speech.
Musk, in agreement with Shellenberger, responds to his post on X, stating that his platform will be taking legal action to prevent censorship crackdowns and protect freedom of speech. Musk expresses his anticipation for the discovery process to begin.
In 2016, the New York Times reported that Soros pledged $10 million to combat hate crimes. Soros attributed the spike in hate incidents against migrants and minorities to "dark forces that have been awakened" by the 2016 election.
He emphasized the need to push back against these forces and planned to gift $5 million in grants to community-based and civil-society organizations. One of the recipients of these funds was the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was tasked with tracking hate crime incidents in the United States.
According to the FBI, hate-related crimes saw a 12% increase in 2021 compared to the previous year. The agency's data indicates that nearly 65% of the 12,411 reported victims were targeted because of their race or ethnicity.
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