Elon Musk said he considers himself a “moderate,” addressing claims that his political beliefs lean conservative after his purchase of Twitter last year.
“I, at least, think of myself as a moderate,” Musk told Bill Maher during an appearance on his late-night program. “I’ve spent a massive amount of my life energy building sustainable energy, electric vehicles, and batteries, and solar to help save the environment. It’s not exactly far-right.”
Musk has called himself a “free speech absolutist” and advocated for controversial far-right figures to return to the social media platform. He also unbanned former President Trump, though the former president chose not to return to the site.
He has been a major proponent of the “woke mind virus” concept, the idea of a cultural wave influencing those online, mostly liberals. Musk described in the interview that “cancel culture” is part of it, and that “it threatens free speech.”
Musk said that he has always voted for Democrats until the 2022 election, when he voted for a Republican for the first time.
Musk said free speech was one of the main reasons he purchased Twitter, which he believed was suppressing conservative voices. An internal investigation released publicly, dubbed the “Twitter Files,” which highlighted concerns experts raised about how social media platforms interact with the U.S. government requests, but did not find evidence of the alleged suppression.
“My concern with Twitter was that it is somewhat of the digital town square and it’s important that there be both the reality and perception of trust for a wide range of viewpoints,” Musk said.
“I think we should be extremely concerned about anything that undermines the First Amendment,” he added.