Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed ‘free-speech absolutist‘, has clarified his position on the political spectrum in a tweet on Thursday. Musk declared he was previously left of centre but is now leaning towards the right. 

The image shows a timeline from 2008 to 2021, noting how the ‘fellow liberal’ has moved further left of the spectrum, widening the chasm with the conservative on the right end. Amid an increasing divide, the picture of Musk’s gradual shift to the right of the centre is portrayed. 

The entrepreneur’s clubbing of leftism and liberalism as one and the same aside, Musk’s post comes on the heels of his tweet saying “For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally”. 

Also Read | Elon Musk sells $4 billion Tesla shares, says no sales planned

His stance has raised some fears as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is now the owner of one of the world’s largest social media companies, popularly known as the town square of the internet. 

Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin are among the conservatives who’ve returned to Twitter after it changed hands when Musk closed a $44 billion deal. While former US President Donald Trump has said he intends to stick to his social media platform TRUTH Social, there’s buzz that he might return as well. 

There have been some concerns about hate speeches and abuses on Twitter under Musk’s new ‘free speech’ championing, with Amnesty International noting in a statement, “The last thing we need is 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”. 

Also Read | Elon Musk revisits plan to buy Coca Cola, says ‘oh hi lol’

However, Musk has clarified his stance on free speech, saying ”

By ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law.

I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.” 

It remains to be seen whether Musk’s desire for free speech leads him to reverse Twitter’s recent ban on advertisements and content denying the science behind climate change.