Elon Musk just doesn’t have a sense of humor

Not that Twitter didn’t have rules before to limit attempts to impersonate other people. They already existed, although Musk’s ideas regarding their application seem to be more aggressive. The point is, the new Twitter boss called himself a “fundamentalist of free speech“and recently had written: “I hope my worst critics stay on Twitter too, because that’s what free speech means“.

The meaning of parody

It is possible, then, that what Musk meant is that people are allowed to criticize him but not to scoff at him. But while he says he doesn’t have a problem with parodies, he doesn’t seem to understand exactly what genre iswho uses comedy to talk about bigger issues.

It is true that none of the people who changed their name on Twitter to Musk’s had indicated that what he was doing was a parody. How is it true that when comedian Jaboukie Young-White passed himself off as the Cnn on Twitter by posting posts about President Joe Biden’s sex life has been suspended. These, however, are examples of satire and should be allowed on the platform even when not explicitly labeled. A parody is no longer a parody when it presents itself as such. One would expect a person who once called the famous satirical site The Onion the “largest publication in the history of all conscious beings, dead or alive“understand. And instead.

Comedy should always strike those in positions of power, and not who is weaker. Freedom of speech should (in the first instance) protect those who want to scoff at multimillion-dollar companies (or their CEOs). Making fun of people using racist, transphobic, sexist, homophobic or other rhetoric may also be legally permitted, but at some point it stops being a joke (more likely it never was). Language of this kind can quickly lead to harassment and violence. Words will also be protected, but the people they are addressed to are not.

Can we say, then, that the tweets from Griffin and other users who used Musk’s name were an attempt to ridicule a person with less power, even if they didn’t clearly say they were a parody? No, in all likelihood. Not that it matters much: as the owner of the business, Musk now has the power to decide who laughs last.

This article originally appeared on Wired US.