‘Human rights groups’ mocked for abandoning ‘free speech as being too dangerous’ on Twitter

Free speech advocates tore into a report Monday about "human rights groups" coming out against Elon Musk buying Twitter.

Reuters reported "Human rights groups raise hate speech concerns after Musk's takeover of Twitter," which was mocked as free speech "being too dangerous" for civil liberties organizations.

The article quoted Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union who said, "While Elon Musk is an ACLU card-carrying member and one of our most significant supporters, there’s a lot of danger having so much power in the hands of any one individual."

Director of technology and human rights at Amnesty International, Michael Kleinman went further, implying that Musk’s "free speech absolutism" could make for "a Twitter that willfully turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech against users, particularly those most disproportionately impacted, including women, non-binary persons, and others."

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Digital rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch, Deborah Brown warned, "Changes to [Twitter's] policies, features, and algorithms, big and small, can have disproportionate and sometimes devastating impacts, including offline violence."

Conservatives and other free speech defenders on Twitter laid into these complaints, particularly those made by the ACLU, the same group which professes that part of its mission since 1920 has been "to ensure that freedom of speech is protected for everyone."

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pointed out this irony, tweeting on Tuesday, "So the @ACLU is now coming out…against free speech? They don’t like ‘free speech absolutists’? What the hell are they doing??"

National Review podcast host Jeffrey Blehar also admonished the ACLU for their stance. He tweeted, "The American 𝐶𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙𝐿𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 Union has now proudly come out against free speech as being too dangerous. It's the moment where absolutely nobody, on either side anymore, can deny that the money has completely overridden and even now literally *reversed* the message."

Author Antonio García Martínez made a 1984 reference in his slam of the ACLU, tweeting, "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. And the ACLU is now *against* civil liberties."

Investigative journalist Mark Hyman accused the ACLU of now opposing free speech, tweeting, "Last month, the @ACLU argued in favor of mandatory vaccinations. This month, they oppose free speech. Civil liberties were so yesterday to this liberal lobbying group. Donors should demand their money be refunded."

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Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald quoted Romero calling Musk "an ACLU card-carrying member and one of our most significant supporters" before noting the ACLU executive director "[s]till warns sole control of Twitter by the ‘free speech absolutist’ is dangerous."

Left-wing journalist Matt Taibbi made a dry remark at the ACLU’s stance, tweeting, "Coming out against ‘free speech absolutism’ is yawningly on brand for the new ACLU."

Media Research Center Vice President of Free Speech America/Business Dan Gainor tweeted, "When did human rights groups start promoting human wrongs?"

Writer for The Telegraph, Oliver Smith slammed Amnesty International specifically, asking via tweet, "Is this the same @amnesty that has remain[sic] completely silent during two years of brutal lockdowns that have pushed tens of millions of people into poverty, seen the right to protest withdrawn, and forced countless people to die alone?"

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