We almost lost free speech, but it's making a comeback!

I’m sure most of you remember how bad social media has been over the last few years in regards to free speech. Sure, you could see all the cat videos and inane street fights you wanted, but speech about more important things was definitely being throttled in a very partisan way.

Every major social media platform was pressured (including by government) to control narratives surrounding Covid, the vaccine, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the integrity of the 2020 election, basic information about the two presidential candidates, and much more.

For people trying to speak truthfully about such things, it felt like they were being thrown into solitary confinement — digitally. After Joe Biden “won” the 2020 election, the various schemers who worked so hard to manipulate the digital public square actually bragged about it in Time magazine.

That’s why the participants want the secret history of the 2020 election told, even though it sounds like a paranoid fever dream–a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information. They were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it.

“Fortifying” it by controlling the flow of information? That should terrify us. They are bragging about restricting what the public can say in order to manipulate elections — and worse, to manipulate what we think.

That’s why many of us were so thrilled in 2022 when Elon Musk spent $44 billion of his own money to buy arguably the most important social media platform (at least for all the important issues), Twitter (now X).

Musk quickly returned X back to a free speech platform, and I believe that this is a big reason why the “cabal” self-reference above had a disappointing election night in 2024.

The tide is definitely turning back towards a respect (or perhaps demand) for much less restricted speech in our social media platforms, especially about important political or social topics.

That’s why it was so refreshing that when I woke up this morning and logged onto X, I quickly saw this short video from Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (Facebook and Instagram). I suggest you watch all of it. I think it marks a definite turning point.

I really hope this is a harbinger of great things to come in this new year, 2025.

Again, Happy New Year to you and yours, and thanks very much for reading Haman Nature.

Naturally,

Adam

PS: A client of mine just reported that he has been absolutely crushing his local poker games, and he credits the changes I have helped make to his game. I know most of my readers don’t play the game seriously, but for those who do, I offer coaching services.

And I’m pretty good.