Elon Musk Calls Sam Harris' Twitter Exit 'Weird': A Closer Look At The Controversy

In a curious exchange of opinions, Elon Musk expressed his puzzlement over philosopher and podcast host Sam Harris’ departure from Twitter, but the story runs deeper as he previously himself revealed the reason behind his decision — and it happened after the tech billionaire acquired the platform. 

What Happened: On Thursday, Musk shared his thoughts on Harris’ departure from Twitter, referring to it as “weird.” The response was ignited by Seth Dillon, CEO of the satirical news website The Babylon Bee, who remarked on Harris’ departure, suggesting that it was due to concerns over “free speech.” 

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For the unversed, in November last year, shortly after publicly criticizing Musk’s decision to reinstate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, Harris discreetly moved to delete his own on the platform. 

“The prevailing opinion among “free speech absolutists” appears to be that this platform, in order to become healthy, must helplessly publish the malicious lies of any maniac, at scale, regardless of the consequences. Good luck with that,” Harris tweeted sometime before deleting his account and after Musk’s widely discussed poll on Twitter, which asked whether Trump should regain access to the platform. 

At the time, many people speculated that Harris deleted his account in protest of Musk’s leadership and Trump’s Twitter account reinstatement, but the podcast host dismissed the rumors later, stating, “It was a very simple decision… I came to believe that my engagement with Twitter was making me a worse person.”

During that time, he also revealed that Twitter was the only platform he was using personally, unlike Facebook and Instagram. However, the platform became somewhat unbearable, leading him to block at least 50,000 people on Twitter in the week before his final departure from the platform. 

Harris also said that regarding Musk’s leadership, he is “agnostic.” He said that the tech billionaire has all the resources to make Twitter a viable business, so leaving Twitter was not a sign of protest but a decision he made for his personal well-being. 

Why It’s Important: In December 2022, following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, reports emerged indicating a significant surge in hate speech on the platform. U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff also presented data highlighting an increase in slurs targeting black & Jewish people, women and gay men.

However, Musk countered these claims by asserting that “hate speech impressions are actually down.” 

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