Incredibly shortsighted and disappointing, and I say that as someone who respects Elon and had hope for what he’d do with Twitter. Any and all credibility to his “free speech” mission has evaporated.
The only way I could possibly steel man this decision is if they had data showing this kind of promotion was an imminent existential threat to Twitter, which would jeopardize the broader mission, but I think this is obviously the wrong solution and just digging his grave deeper.
Because free speech was always about the kind of speech that Musk wanted to be free: transphobia and COVID conspiracy theories. He saw people he agreed with being silenced, but never cared otherwise.
The only way I could possibly steel man this decision is if they had data showing this kind of promotion was an imminent existential threat to Twitter, which would jeopardize the broader mission, but I think this is obviously the wrong solution and just digging his grave deeper.