Billionaire Elon Musk has vowed that the only way governments pressuring him to block Russian news sources can get him to do that will be at gunpoint.
In a twitter, Musk claimed that unnamed governments ordered that his SpaceX Starlink internet service should block Russian news outlets.
Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022
After one person criticized Musk and accused Russian media outlets of being “propaganda,” the billionaire responded, “All news sources are partially propaganda, some more than others.”
Last week, Musk announced that his Starlink satellite internet program was now active in Ukraine after Kiev’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov begged the SpaceX CEO for assistance in its fight against Russia.
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The EU has banned Russian media outlets, including RT and Sputnik, this week – pulling RT TV off air and ordering technology companies to block access to RT’s website and social media pages, accusing the outlet of spreading “harmful disinformation.”
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, TikTok, Reddit, and other tech companies all complied with the EU’s censorship order.
On Friday, Russia’s President Putin signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for fake news about the Russian army, as Moscow pushes forward with its invasion of Ukraine.
The bill, adopted by lawmakers earlier on Friday, sets out jail terms of varying lengths and fines against people who publish “knowingly false information” about the military, with harsher penalties to hit when dissemination is deemed to have serious consequences.
Several news outlets suspended or are in the process of suspending operations in Russia in response to the new law.
Some of these news outlets includes; BBC, Duetsche Wella, Meduaza, Radio Liberty, CBC, Bloomberg, CNN etc.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
