Elon Musk No Longer Bans ‘Deadnaming’ on Twitter, and the Media Is Angry

Twitter no longer bans users who refer to people using biologically accurate pronouns. Instead, it now allows accountholders to determine how they express themselves. This victory for freedom of speech won scorn from outlets existentially dependent on freedom of speech.

The Associated Press said in its lede on the story that the move to affirm freedom of expression evokes “concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups.”

Twitter for years marginalized anyone refusing to abide by dictates emanating from Silicon Valley that men can have babies and women can have penises. Its bans did not stop at trolls (not that freedom of speech does not extend to trolls, a subjective term rarely agreed upon between troll and trolled) who verbally abused men portraying as women and women portraying as men. They encompassed respected people making general biological points targeting no particular person.

“A man cannot get pregnant,” Francisco José Contreras, a professor who serves in Spain’s lower legislative chamber, tweeted about an article touting a “man” giving birth. “A man has no womb or eggs,” he said.