Elon Musk: I'll say what I want, even if it means losing money 0:40

Editor's Note: Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly CNN opinion contributor, a columnist for The Washington Post and a columnist for the World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. See more opinions on CNN.

(CNN) -- For years, Elon Musk was a mysterious, intriguing and widely admired figure. That was before he bought Twitter and put his hands firmly behind the wheel of the social network, boosting his influence and magnifying his voice, in the process revealing that the man behind Tesla and SpaceX's spectacular entrepreneurial achievements isn't exactly what he had led us to believe.


In the last week alone, Musk has behaved in a way that can cause far-reaching damage, while shedding more light on the contradiction between his public statements and his actions.

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Musk craves attention, so one hesitates to give him precisely what he wants. But even those of us who strive to ignore his habitual trolling find it necessary to point out how harmful and hypocritical the once richest man in the world is.

Over the weekend, Musk, whose claim that he is a "free speech absolutist" has already seemed limited to his own convenience in the past, surrendered to the demands of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian government, blocking some accounts and more than 400 tweets in the country.

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Twitter complied with Turkish court orders just in time to possibly boost the chances of Erdogan, the president who has jailed journalists, critics and rivals, ahead of one of the toughest elections of his life.

Dismayed, Enes Kanter Freedom, the Turkish-born former NBA player and fierce critic of Erdogan, told CNN: "I don't want to hear Elon Musk talk about free speech again. He is literally bowing to dictatorship." (Twitter said it took the move "to keep Twitter available over election weekend." She added that of the five Turkish court orders issued against her, she had opposed four.)

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The day after the election, Musk launched a Twitter attack on George Soros, the Jewish billionaire who supports liberal causes, framing his criticism of the Holocaust survivor in terms that prompted scholars of anti-Semitism to warn that Musk's messages would worsen the growing plague of anti-Semitic and racist violence.

He also slandered a respected international investigative journalism organization, arguing that it is "stupid" to think that a massacre allegedly carried out by a man with Nazi tattoos and a long history of racist, anti-Semitic and misogynist publications means the incident is linked to white supremacy.

It's hard to reconcile the man who regularly promotes wild conspiracy theories among his tens of millions of followers with the supposedly thoughtful visionary of his pre-Twitter days.

Musk announces he will no longer be CEO of Twitter 1:32

Of course, by then he was already trampling on the rules, and many were beginning to question his cult of the hero. But most people took him at his word when he hinted that what fueled his impulse was his constant concern for humanity.

Back then, Musk's profiles were unraveling in praise, describing his concern about the greatest risks to humanity, writing with visible astonishment that Musk "navigates between running his business and trying to save the planet."

Musk proclaims deep-seated opinions. But sometimes beliefs seem only as deep as a tweet. And he doesn't seem to have thought much about the corollaries, the consequences, of those ideas. Or maybe you don't care.

Many still admire him for reinstating thousands of banned Twitter accounts before he took office, even as racist and anti-Semitic posts skyrocketed, as internet researchers have documented.

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But while Musk claimed to be putting into practice his commitment to opening Twitter's doors to greater free speech, it increasingly seems that he was opening them wide for those who agreed with his views, which increasingly resemble those of a far-right activist. It turns out the compromise wasn't as solid as a rock.

Freedom of expression on Twitter was important to the opposition in the Turkish elections, because the government controls most of the media. Faced with a giant, the opposition counted on social networks to convey its message.

Musk said there was a choice between accepting the government's demands or letting them shut down Twitter. But there was another option.

In 2014, before another election, Erdogan made similar demands, declaring: "We will eradicate Twitter. I don't care what the international community says." Twitter fought back.

Turkey shut down Twitter for a while, but even some of Erdogan's closest allies turned against him. In the end, Twitter was re-established, with its principles intact; Erdogan was tainted by another autocratic measure.

It turns out that Musk's free speech absolutism is less than absolute. Absurdly, he now says, "By 'freedom of speech,' I mean simply that which coincides with the law." So if a tyrant enacts a law banning criticism, will Musk believe that muzzling his critics is in keeping with free speech?
Beyond his hypocrisy of free speech, there is Musk's fading aura as the thoughtful futurist concerned with the fate of humanity.

There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with George Soros. But Musk's attack, just after the liberal Soros announced he had sold his Tesla shares, was not a philosophical argument.

Musk first compared the Jewish billionaire to a comic book villain, a Jewish Marvel villain, no less.

When someone responded that at least Soros means well, Musk blurted out a description that could have been written by the authors of the anti-Semitic "Zion Protocols," which depicted obscure Jews plotting against the world.

Soros, Musk wrote, to nearly 140 million followers on Twitter, "wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity."

Twitter adds encrypted messages 1:08

The framing aligns with centuries of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, which present Jews as malevolent forces with dark powers intent on destroying civilization.

Soros has been a prolific promoter of liberal causes, such as democracy, human rights and the environment, among others. He's a liberal, Musk isn't, but disagreement wasn't the issue.

The Anti-Defamation League said Musk's words "will embolden extremists who already hatch anti-Jewish conspiracies..."

But promoting conspiracies has become one of Musk's favorite games, no matter the consequences. Never mind that racist anti-Semites, usually go hand in hand, have been killing people; that anti-Semitic attacks have skyrocketed to the highest level since the ADL began keeping records in 1979.

Musk doubled down, saying he will say whatever he wants even if it costs him money. How brave.

By spreading the messages of conspiracists in the shadows, adding fuel to what is already a bonfire, Musk is making a fragile and brittle social media environment even more explosive, making the world even more dangerous.

Now, much of the mystery surrounding Musk in the early years has dissipated. He has traded widespread admiration for an emerging cult hero status among some members of the far right.

In the process, he has become more famous than ever and is more news than ever. And maybe that will make it all worthwhile for him.

Elon MuskRecep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey