The Cold Dose of Reality Awaiting Elon Musk

Twitter’s new owner faces a difficult regulatory landscape around the world. Published in The Atlantic.
elon musk facing a crowd with arms up

On Friday, a conservative group named Canada Proud tweeted at Elon Musk, saying, “Now that you own Twitter, will you help fight back against [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau’s online censorship bill C-11?” Musk, who appears more eager to reply to random tweets than to study the laws that will govern his new acquisition, tweeted back, “First I’ve heard.” Oh.

In the coming weeks, Musk is in for some surprising meetings and phone calls, it seems (if anyone’s left in the Twitter legal department to set up those meetings or calls). Canada’s C-11 bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, would greatly increase governmental control over online content, and it is part of a wave of new internet-speech laws now being debated or implemented in countries around the world.