Now the FTC Is Going After Musk Over Twitter

New in PJ Media:

How much do the political elites hate the freedom of speech? Enough to pull out all the stops to prevent self-professed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk from taking over Twitter. Now the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is stepping in to “review” Musk’s purchase of Twitter, looking into whether or not the takeover violates antitrust laws.

Yes, you read that right. Fox News reported Thursday that the FTC is “setting up a deadline for a possible antitrust review.” According to the FTC itself, “for over 100 years, the antitrust laws have had the same basic objective: to protect the process of competition for the benefit of consumers, making sure there are strong incentives for businesses to operate efficiently, keep prices down, and keep quality up.” By that standard, the FTC should be thrilled at the prospect of Musk taking over Twitter, as his commitment to the freedom of speech is a sharp departure from the monochrome Leftism of Google, Facebook, and Twitter as we have known it up to now. Musk doesn’t threaten competition; he represents competition.

If the FTC is genuinely worried about protecting “the process of competition for the benefit of consumers,” it should be investigating the other social media giants for their lockstep enforcement of policies that restrict the speech of those who dissent from the Left’s agenda. That’s the real monopoly here, and it is Elon Musk who has broken it.

If Musk owned a number of other social media companies, the FTC might have some cause for concern. But Tesla makes electric cars. SpaceX is all about space exploration. Neuralink is a neuroscience company. The Boring Company is devoted to developing high-speed travel methods. Musk’s purchase of Twitter will bring the number of social media companies he owns to one.

So why is the FTC even considering an antitrust review of Twitter? The answer is obvious: the FTC is part of today’s political establishment, which is dominated by Leftists who don’t believe in the freedom of speech and are trying to destroy it in the name of stamping out “hate speech” and disinformation. The FTC today is full of people who believe that Old Joe Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board is a grand idea, and that their friends, colleagues, and allies ought to have the power to silence anyone who says things they believe are false, hateful, or damaging in whatever way.

Also part of this establishment is the Open Markets Institute, which claims to “address threats to our democracy, individual liberties, and our national security from today’s unprecedented levels of corporate concentration and monopoly power.” Yet instead of fighting against the social media giants’ monopoly of Leftist speech restrictions, OMI Director Barry Lynn is going after Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Lynn stated, “The Open Markets Institute believes the deal poses a number of immediate and direct threats to American democracy and free speech.”

There is more. Read the rest here.