Dear @elonmusk,
Over the past several days, the Japanese X community has been experiencing a wave of mass account suspensions.
We have seen similar waves of suspensions before. However, in previous cases, the affected accounts were generally spam bots or accounts that had clearly violated X's rules.
This time, things are different.
Commentators, influencers, and people who have used X as a platform for public debate are being suspended one after another, often without any clear indication of what they did wrong.
As a result, Japanese users are becoming afraid to speak freely on X. Some have even begun deleting their previous posts out of fear that their accounts may be suspended next.
Around August, stricter enforcement of sensitive-content policies drove many Japanese artists away from X.
Now, in October, we may be witnessing the disappearance of the very commentators and public voices who have made X such an important platform for open discussion in Japan.
If this continues, it could mean the death of X as a space for free speech in Japan.
Some of the suspended influencers were certainly outspoken, confrontational, or even harsh in their language. But these are precisely the kinds of voices that must be protected if we are to uphold the principle of free speech that you yourself have championed.
Japan's X community has always included people from many different political and ideological backgrounds. They have argued, challenged one another, and sometimes clashed fiercely.
But I believe it was precisely this diversity of opinions, and the constant exchange of criticism, that helped prevent us from making serious mistakes.
Free speech does not mean protecting only the voices we agree with. It means protecting the right of those we disagree with to speak as well.
I am not asking you to protect my political camp, nor am I asking you to restore any particular individual's account.
I sincerely ask you to reconsider the wave of account suspensions that began in October and restore the voices that have been silenced. Whatever their political beliefs or opinions, these people were an essential part of Japan's public discourse.
I hope that X can once again become a place where Japanese users can express themselves freely, debate openly, and disagree without fear of losing their voices.
Please help us preserve the freedom of speech that made X worth defending in the first place.
Shizu retweeted
I wish the japanese would go this hard defending their shit from censorship as they do piracy
Yeah bro looking at half naked drawings of young girls is part of what makes anime so good
When you add women and gay people to your design team:
"After more than three decades we are closing"
Shizu retweeted
BlueSkyでは「自由・尊重・寛容」を掲げる人たちを多く見かけました。
けれど、少なくとも私がそこで実際に経験したのは、それとは正反対のものでした。
私は彼らの考え方を否定したことはありませんし、そういう考え方があることも尊重しています。
それでも、次から次へと人が押し寄せ、私を「教育」し、「正しい」考え方を学ばせようとしてきました。
そして数日間、まさに押し寄せるような大量の非難や攻撃に晒され、ネット上で激しい集団攻撃を受け続けました。
自由を掲げながら、異なる考え方には自由を認めない。
尊重や寛容を語りながら、異なる声にはそれを向けない。
私はそれに疲れ果て、最終的にBlueSkyから全面的に撤退しました。
だからこそ、彼女が経験したことには、とても他人事とは思えないものがあります。
On Bluesky, I saw many people who spoke proudly about freedom, respect, and tolerance.
Yet, at least in my own experience there, what I actually encountered was quite the opposite.
I never denied their views, and I respected their right to hold them. Even so, people came one after another to “educate” me and tell me that I needed to learn the “correct” way to think.
Then came several days of overwhelming, relentless online harassment. Waves of people flooded in with accusations, attacks, and hostile messages, one after another.
To speak of freedom while allowing little room for different views; to speak of respect and tolerance while withholding them from those who disagree—it became exhausting.
Eventually, I withdrew from Bluesky entirely.
That's why what happened to her doesn't feel distant or abstract to me. I can deeply relate to what she went through.
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