Hyderabad: TED head Chris Anderson on Tuesday wrote an open letter to billionaire Elon Musk who owns the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) asking him to follow the fairness doctrine in his posts.
"There are numerous journalistic principles that matter — Grok can summarise them quite nicely. But there’s one in particular that’s been troubling me. It’s the fairness doctrine. The one that says that before you publish savagely critical claims about an individual or an institution, you reach out to them for their side of the story. After all, just possibly, you may have missed a key fact or two that would change how people assess what has happened," Anderson said.
With a certain amount of trepidation, I'm posting this open letter to @elonmusk, someone I have admired, but who, right now, is causing me concern. I know I'm not alone in thinking these thoughts. Please like or repost if you're willing... And Elon, if you're listening, please… pic.twitter.com/WGU9okIXJ3
— Chris Anderson (@TEDchris) January 7, 2025
Calling Elon Musk the "century's single most influential writer, Anderson told him that some of his recent posts could literally get someone killed. "When you tell hundreds of millions of people that someone should be hanged or jailed for outrageous crimes against humanity, just possibly you should first sound out what those who know those people really well would say about them," Chris Anderson added.
"Some of your recent posts could literally get someone killed. Do you really want to risk that? How is it possible that you can do this at the very same time that you’re calling on people to make X more positive, more beautiful?" asked the TED chief.
"I get that from your eyes the issues you are championing are unbelievably important and worthy of extreme efforts. But the way you are presenting them is not citizen journalism. It's playground bullying. It’s crass and it’s cruel, and it’s therefore not nearly as effective as it could be."
"You’re hearing the cheers of your most loyal followers, but missing the fact you’re making yourself a laughing stock among many who you really want on your side. Long-term that’s going to damage X, your other businesses, and indeed your long-term dreams for humanity. No one wants to follow a playground bully to Mars," Anderson added.
Musk has not responded to Anderson's letter.
