Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has launched a strong criticism against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, following the removal of UK biologist Richard Dawkins' Facebook account over his views surrounding the debate on gender in sports. The controversy arose after Dawkins made remarks opposing the participation of "male" athletes in women's sports, which reportedly led to the suspension of his Meta account.
A disapproving Musk expressed his frustration with Meta’s content moderation policies through a post on X, stating, “Facebook aka ‘Meta’ can never be trusted.”
Facebook aka “Meta” can never be trusted https://t.co/y1NtbRoqpI— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2024
Dawkins, a prominent biologist and author, had argued against policies that allow athletes with male chromosomes to compete in female sports, leading to his account's removal from Facebook.
The incident has sparked a wider debate on free speech and the role of content moderation on social media platforms.
Meta is yet to respond to Musk’s criticism directly.
Dawkins announced on August 10 that his Facebook account has been deleted, allegedly in response to his remarks on Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.
My entire @facebook account has been deleted, seemingly (no reason given) because I tweeted that genetically male boxers such as Imane Khalif (XY undisputed) should not fight women in Olympics. Of course my opinion is open to civilised argument. But outright censorship? — Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) August 10, 2024
Dawkins clarified that his comments were made on X, not on Facebook, yet it was his Facebook account that had got deleted.
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