Chapter 166

Following Musk's acquisition of Twitter, he encounters Ye (Kanye West), who is banned from the platform after antisemitic tweets, teaching Musk lessons about the complexity of free speech. Musk pledges to create a content moderation council but quickly loses interest, instead relying on Yoel Roth, Twitter's trust and safety head, to navigate the chaotic first days of moderation policy under his ownership.

Musk and Ye share a celebrity friendship based on shared unfiltered personalities and mutual admiration. In early October 2022, Ye posts antisemitic content and is banned by Twitter; Musk expresses concern but the ban remains, marking the beginning of Musk's realization that his idealistic free speech stance requires nuance. Musk initially pledges to form a diverse content moderation council to handle reinstatement decisions, tweeting that "no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes." However, he quickly dilutes the idea, insisting the council be purely advisory and losing interest entirely. When Musk's chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde is fired, responsibility for content moderation falls to Yoel Roth, a thirty-five-year-old left-leaning Democrat with a history of anti-Republican tweets. On the day Musk closes the Twitter deal, Roth is summoned by Yoni Ramon, an Israeli Tesla security engineer, who introduces him to Musk. They discuss security protocols, and Musk asks Roth for a list of people he would "trust with your life" for high-level access, emphasizing the stakes with the threat of mass firings. The next morning, Musk impulsively requests reinstatement of the Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site banned for misgendering a transgender official. Roth consults with Musk's lawyer Alex Spiro, who advises allowing the arbitrary reinstatement. When Musk meets with Roth and Spiro, he compares reinstatements to presidential pardons, but Roth persuades him that arbitrary decisions create consistency problems. Musk reveals personal stake in the issue—his own child had transitioned—and agrees with Roth's proposal to use "visibility filtering" and warning labels instead of outright bans, which Roth promises to implement by Monday. On Saturday, Roth is called to meet with David Sacks and Jason Calacanis, Musk's longtime associates. Twitter is experiencing a troll-driven surge in racist and antisemitic content, with N-word usage up 500 percent. Musk, upon learning the posts stem from coordinated bot campaigns rather than organic user expression, orders Roth to "nuke it," declaring "Hate speech has no place on Twitter." Roth posts a thread documenting the coordinated campaign and its removal; Musk retweets and reassures advertisers. Despite conservative outcry over Roth's old leftist tweets, Musk publicly defends Roth's integrity, texting him regularly and offering genuine support, suggesting a developing working relationship.