Elon Musk has expressed his absolute disagreement with the blocking of media outlets controlled by the Russian government, such as Russia Today or Sputnik . He also explained that he will not do it in the service of Starlink .
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Union decided to ban Russia Today and other similar outlets “in order to put an end to their “lies and disinformation”, in addition to describing them “as Kremlin media machines”, in the words of Ursula von der Leyen.”They will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and sow division in our union,” she said.Companies like Google/YouTube supported the decision and ended up blocking them around the world.Whitewashing a war has its price Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and Meta have done the same.
But Elon Musk does not seem to agree with preventing access to information, whatever it may be, wherever it comes from. “I am a free speech absolutist,” he commented on his Twitter account. “Some governments have asked Starlink to block Russian media. We will not do it unless they point a gun at me.”
When someone replied that some Russian media is propaganda, Elon Musk replied: “all media is partly propaganda. Some more than others.” The decision seems to be made and anyone who wants to watch Russia Today in the European Union can access it using a VPN or connecting to the internet through Starlink.
Elon Musk's role in the Ukrainian war
Elon Musk has taken quite a leading role in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Especially after accepting the request of the deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, to activate the Starlink service in the country and the sending of antennas.
And, although it is quite unlikely that Ukraine will be left without internet, the antennas to connect to Starlink satellites sent by Elon Musk will help certain regions of the country have internet, especially in the east of the country.
Then, on March 9, Ukraine received a second truck full of Starlink antennas sent by Elon Musk and Tesla employees in Europe. Fedorov appreciated the gesture, to which the CEO of SpaceX replied that he also sent power adapters to connect directly to the car, solar packs and generators for “those places where electricity is not available.”
Elon Musk has also commented on the increasing shortage of gas and oil, has had talks with the president of Ukraine, has advocated the restart of nuclear plants in Europe and has warned about the possibility of Starlink antennas becoming targets. of Russian bombing.
