Last Friday saw Kanye West, also known as Ye, unleash a tirade of antisemitic, sexist, and abusive tweets on X where he called himself a Nazi, praised Hitler, and blamed Jews for a myriad of problems.
It was a return to a form we saw in December 2022, when his last outburst led to him being dropped by Addidas and largely canceled by the wider world.
A little over two years have passed, and the world is different. Elon Musk purchased Twitter, turning it into X, and reinstated his account in a turn that was said to promote free speech.
It’s been three days and Kanye has suggested that “Jewish People are always going to steal”... they “Love to take ownership over shit they didn't make or own”, and that they “are like bitches” who need to be “kept in check”.
He also praised Hitler and made tasteless comments against the black community, gay people, Muslims, and white people more generally. Honestly, the list goes on.
At the time of this episode’s recording on Sunday evening, his posts all remained up apart from some being ‘limited’ with restricted share abilities due to X’s rules against hateful content. In the 12 hours following this conversation, he had also started posting pornographic material - and by the time this episode was published (Monday morning), his account appeared deactivated.
Those who know me know that my libertarian instinct has always favored free speech online over censorship. I do believe that the internet should be open and free, and bad ideas should be presented and judged accordingly. I prescribe to Musk’s idea that free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and that speech that matches the law should remain online - then the free market of ideas will sort the good from the bad.
But even I had to take a moment to consider how Kanye’s rant was allowed to continue. Old Twitter may have censored too much, but this was a little extreme, even for me. And I was concerned about the real-world consequences of actions taken by such a prominent public figure.
To understand all of this better and gain a different perspective, I spoke to CyberWell Founder & Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.
CyberWell is an independent nonprofit focused on combatting online antisemitism and Holocaust denial on social media. I wanted to know more about the impact these outbursts have on online discourse, how and if that bleeds over to the ‘real’ world, and what other social media platforms are doing in comparison to X.
I hope you enjoy it.
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