Joining Joe Rogan to incite harassment against a vaccine scientist

Musk, wielding his massive influence on public opinion, decided to back conservative pundit Joe Rogan up in a dogpile against Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist, professor, and published author.

Their exchange started when Dr. Hotez shared an article decrying Spotify for platforming Rogan's continued spreading of vaccine misinformation. Rogan responded by offering to donate $100k to charity if Dr. Hotez agreed to debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. When Dr. Hotez refused to engage with him, Rogan questioned how serious he was about his beliefs.

Musk responded with "he knows he's wrong", which motivated an onslaught of harassment from Musk and Rogan supporters.

Platforming Tucker Carlson under the guise of free speech

After Tucker Carlson's exile from Fox News, Musk welcomed him to Twitter with open arms. Carlson's hateful and racist rhetoric has gone beyond just "opinion", yet Musk has touted himself as merely a free speech advocate for all. Musk wrote "bold" in response to the third episode of Tucker on Twitter, and followed up with "Once again, I'd like to offer this platform to anyone on the left. You will get equal treatment."

Aligning himself with Prime Minister Modi

Under past leadership, Twitter was known to push back against abuse-of-power, including against the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Musk, however, said he's a "fan of Modi" in a recent interview, and stated that Modi "really wants to do the right thing for India."

Modi's administration has continued to request takedowns of information on Twitter, in an effort to censor dissenting information. When Twitter was recently accused of censoring anti-government sentiment for Indian users, Musk appeared to get defensive.

In the past, Musk also stated that he preferred to "hew close to the laws of countries in which Twitter operates", furthering the likelihood that he may have known about the recent Indian censorship after all.

Permanently banning accounts for making jokes about him

A few days after he announced "Comedy is now legal on Twitter", Musk decided that his statement didn't count if he was the butt of the joke. Twitter permanently banned multiple users who impersonated him, including comedians Kathy Griffin and Ethan Klein. Both users have had their accounts restored since.

Twitter's wave of suspensions last year also included several journalists, which prompted the Committee to Protect Journalists to publish a request for restored accounts.

Platforming transphobic lies

Just this month, Musk has made it clear on numerous occasions that he doesn't respect the rights of transgender people , echoing common conservative talking points.

Musk started the month off by retweeting the hate-fueled and unscientific Daily Wire documentary, What Is A Woman?, adding "Every parent should watch this." He followed up by stating that "a child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors."

The next day, Musk tweeted "insane," seemingly in agreement with a user who expressed disdain for hospitals offering gender-affirming healthcare to LGBTQ+ minors.

Musk also has a transgender daughter, who cut ties with him last year, wishing to no longer be associated with him.