Elon Musk has 119 million followers on Twitter, the platform which he just bought for $44 billion. That’s more followers than Taylor Swift, whose concert tour ticket sales just broke Ticketmaster.
Getting similar mistreatment to what Donald Trump has endured for years, Elon Musk is now being bullied by Apple, which controls millions of iPhone users’ access to Twitter. First, Apple pulled advertising from Twitter, and now it is threatening to ban Twitter from its App Store, Musk says.
Musk tweeted at Apple CEO Tim Cook multiple times requesting an explanation, without success. Apple is perhaps the most liberal company in the world, and presumably it is doing the bidding of its own political sponsors, including China, where iPhones are made.
Apple is so tightly bound with communist China that Apple’s stock plummeted on news of unrest in China. A resurgence of a Covid-19 variant there has resulted in a return to tyrannical lockdowns, but the masses are resisting this time.
Unable to express themselves on Communist-controlled social media, Chinese citizens have resorted to waving blank sheets of white paper as the most they can say without being arrested. Such tyranny against freedom of speech here in the United States is not so far off.
Musk further tweeted on Monday morning that “Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?”
Musk properly complained that “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
Without hearing any response by Apple, Musk tweeted again later the same day, “This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead.
Perhaps Apple is trying to exclude Twitter because the party bosses in China are telling Apple to crack down on freedom of speech here. Recall the outrage in China when an NBA executive merely tweeted a statement of support for freedom in Hong Kong two years ago.
Both Apple and Google banned the right-leaning Parler platform until Parler began moderating its content. Musk’s decision to reinstate Donald Trump and thousands of other users who had been banned from Twitter has raised the possibility of the California Leftist companies trying to ostracize Twitter.
“If there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone," Musk announced. Musk has the resources to develop and market his own new smartphone, and that would be welcome competition to the oligopoly in that industry.
At Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, which Musk should soon move to Texas, he found a cache of “#StayWoke” t-shirts in a closet. Musk shared his revelation with the world on Twitter, mocking them with “crying face” emojis.
Liberals were not amused, and Musk has been stuck too long in courthouses like the one in Biden's Delaware, where the lawsuit was filed against Musk over Twitter, and where he faces another lawsuit against him over his valuable stock in Tesla. Musk needs to consider filing some lawsuits of his own, and taking on Apple in Texas would be perfect.
There is no reason for Musk to keep the headquarters of Twitter in San Francisco or maintain its state of incorporation in Delaware. Many red states would welcome Musk relocating his company, and courts there would not entertain frivolous lawsuits against him.
Texas courts protected its citizens from the Trump-hating Fulton County, Atlanta prosecutors who have harassed nearly everyone up and down the East Coast who was seen with Trump shortly after the last presidential election, including forcing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to answer questions. But a Texas resident went to Texas courts to successfully quash the Georgia subpoenas on her, and Musk should take note.
Texas podcaster Jacki Pick Deason was never subjected to the humiliation that Senator Graham was put through, because Texas judges stood up for her rights while the U.S. Supreme Court failed to stand up for Sen. Graham’s.
On November 14, Biden met in-person with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia, for the first time since Biden became president. Biden was also scheduled to meet with other world leaders on that same trip, but Biden abruptly “called a lid” which is his expression for retiring while others continue working.
Trump has repeatedly emphasized at his rallies that other world leaders are at the top of their game in mental acuity, unlike Biden. Now the China-Apple alliance is trying to bully Musk to return to the censorship of conservative viewpoints on Twitter that could include anti-China-regime tweets, too.
The liberal media continue to use Twitter both for their own tweets, and for making news out of other tweets. Musk mocked how quickly CBS News returned to the platform after announcing last week that it was suspending its participation.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.
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