Twitter owner Elon Musk said there should be “concern” for a single world government during the opening remarks at day three of the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Musk was introduced by Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the UAE, His Excellency Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi who asked the tech billionaire why he purchased Twitter rather than creating his own social media platform.
Musk said he thought about creating something “from scratch” though noted a pre-established social media juggernaut would “accelerate progress” between three and five years.
“We are seeing a tremendous technology acceleration that three to five years is a lot,” Musk said, noting he was initially worried about the “direction and effect of social media on the world.”
The tech billionaire continued noting he hoped Twitter would be a “maximally trusted sort of digital public square where people within countries and internationally [could] communicate with the least amount of censorship allowed by law.”
“Social media companies should adhere to the laws of countries and not try to put a thumb on the scale beyond the laws of countries.”
BREAKING: @ElonMusk says he recommends Government officials and leaders should speak in their own voices:
“I think people should speak in their own voice. I would encourage CEOs, legislators, to speak authentically.. Do the tweets yourself and convey your message directly” pic.twitter.com/3BSkG2nXrg
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) February 15, 2023
Musk reiterated social media terms of service should “reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of San Francisco and Berkely,” which the tech billionaire referred to as a “niche ideology” compared to the rest of the world.
“I know this is called the World Government Summit, but I think we should be maybe a little bit concerned about actually becoming too much of a single world government,” Musk said. “We want to avoid creating a civilizational risk by having, frankly — this may sound a little odd — too much cooperation between governments.”
The tech billionaire continued detailed how civilizations throughout history were allowed to rise and fall because they were not intertwined, noting “While Rome was falling, Islam was rising.”
Musk has previously been critical of world governance efforts having previously questioned World Economic Forum leader Klaus Schwab’s January remarks invoking the phrase “master the future.”
“’Master the Future’ doesn’t sound ominous at all …” Musk responded to Schwab’s comment. “How is WEF/Davos even a thing? Are they trying to be the boss of Earth!?”
“WEF is increasingly becoming an unelected world government that people never asked for and don’t want,” Musk followed up shortly later.
Similar to previous questions Musk asked Twitter users, the tech billionaire posted a poll asking if “the World Economic Forum should control the world.”
The poll resulted in 14% in agreement with WEF and 86% disapproving with over 2,420,000 votes.
