Under the protection of freedom of expression, the founder of SpaceX, a company that has been deploying the Starlink satellite network since 2019, allowing high-speed internet access by satellite, said he refused to accede to the request of certain governments to block Russian news sources.
« Some governments (not Ukraine) told Starlink to block Russian news sources. We will only do this at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist “wrote, on the night of March 4 to 5, Elon Musk on Twitter.
Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022
In response to this tweet, one netizen commented: Russian news sources are propaganda sources “. To this, the businessman, who distinguished himself earlier by defending the Canadian Freedom Convoy, replied: ” All sources of information are partly propaganda, some more than others. »
This statement by Elon Musk comes at a time when the European Union has imposed on internet service providers to cut off access to several Russian information sources. Also, at the beginning of March, the populations on the soil of the member countries of the European Union can no longer access the RT and Sputknik media.
Starlink, an internet service that extends
At this stage, for its internet access service, Elon Musk’s company has a constellation made up of 1,800 satellites. SpaceX has also planned to put 12,000 satellites into orbit, aiming to send around 42,000 satellites by 2027.
Last May, Elon Musk was pleased to have received more than 500,000 pre-orders for his Internet service. He also expressed some concerns, stating that “ the challenge will be greater when we reach several million users ».