Is Musk’s Twitter takeover a blip or a new trend? Harmeet K. Dhillon answers

Start your free trial

Access exclusive members only RebelNews+ shows, event footage, and documentaries

Subscribe

This is just an excerpt from The Ezra Levant Show. To see new, ad-free episodes, which air Monday - Friday @ 8 p.m. ET | 6 p.m. MT, become a subscriber to RebelNews+. This episode originally aired on December 27, 2022.

On last night’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Ezra was joined by Harmeet Dhillon, who he regarded as the most important free speech lawyer in America. 

Ezra asked Harmeet how she ‘does it all,’ as she runs a freedom-oriented law practice, founded a legal defence fund for freedom issues called The Liberty Center, and has recently been appearing in the media very often, specifically on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight. 

“So while I sort of started out as a free speech lawyer and have really focused my career on that, you also realize that if you don't have the right laws and the government, if you don't have the right leaders who care about those issues, you know, ultimately those words on paper don't matter… and if you really want to affect change, you have to we have to take a big picture, look at it. So I do work long hours,” she answered.

Ezra said that he’s feeling hopeful about the future of freedom of speech recently, largely because of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, his emphasis on free speech, and his revelations about what Twitter did in the past. He asked Harmeet if she thinks Musk is just a blip or a new trend.

“I would call Elon Musk a trend. I would say that historically, overall, the Twitter censorship situation has really waxed and waned and the recent revelation earlier this month of the ‘Twitter Files’ by independent journalist Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss working together has been an eye-opener. And, that was led by the owner of the company saying ‘this needs to happen for freedom.’”

She went on to compare Twitter to other tech platforms such as Google and Facebook, which have only gotten worse in terms of censorship.

“So, I would call it complicated. But I do think that Elon Musk has led a new era of glasnost, if you will, online. And I hope to see more of that. And it's refreshing. I do feel like it's a new opportunity for us to have that conversation.”