Elon Musk is a self-proclaimed \u201cfree speech absolutist.\u201d<\/a> He\u2019s declared himself so committed to the unfettered, open exchange of ideas that he\u2019s said the only way X would let a government suppress speech on its platform is \u201cat gunpoint.\u201d All of this explains why Musk recently allowed X to be banned in Brazil<\/a> rather than comply with the country\u2019s mandate that the social media platform block certain accounts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It does far less to explain Musk\u2019s history of doing that very thing in other countries \u2014 often at the behest of right-wing or authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Musk has been open to following government orders from nearly the beginning. In January 2023 \u2014 a little over two months after Musk\u2019s takeover \u2014 the platform then known as Twitter blocked<\/a> a BBC documentary critical of India\u2019s prime minister, Narendra Modi. India\u2019s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting confirmed that Twitter was among the platforms that suppressed The Modi Question<\/em> at the behest of the Modi government, which called the film<\/a> \u201chostile propaganda and anti-India garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Musk later claimed he had no knowledge of this. But in March, after the Indian government imposed an internet blackout on the northern state of Punjab, Twitter caved again. It suppressed Indian users\u2019 access to more than 100 accounts belonging to prominent activists, journalists, and politicians, The Intercept<\/em> reported<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Later that year, Twitter\u2019s Global Government Affairs account announced<\/a> it had \u201ctaken actions to restrict some content in Turkey\u201d to ensure the website \u201cremains available to the people of Turkey.\u201d As Slate<\/em> noted<\/a> at the time, Twitter imposed restrictions on certain accounts on the eve of Turkey\u2019s national elections \u2014 and it did so amid rampant social media criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n