Vitalik Buterin Calls Elon Musk’s ‘Banhammer’ a Threat to Free Speech

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called on Elon Musk to “turn down the temperature” of his words and drop the social media “banhammer” after the Tesla and SpaceX founder’s heated defense of special visas for foreign tech workers.

Buterin’s comments came after tempers flared on X over calls to end H-1B visas that allow American tech companies to bring in highly skilled foreign workers. Musk told critics to “F*** YOURSELF in the face” and warned he would “go to war” over the issue.

Musk also allegedly removed the blue verification badges from conservative critics of his stance, cutting off their ability to monetize their accounts, Newsweek reported.

“Respecting free speech is easy when we agree with the speech, and hard when we think it's awful,” Buterin said, warning that “the banhammer is controlled by one group today, it will be controlled by another group tomorrow, and every use of it legitimizes further use.”

The end result, Buterin added, is public discourse collapsing into Balkanization, a “monoculture” ruled by the banhammer’s wielder, “or a constant war of all against all.”

X’s angry discourse

Buterin went on to criticize what he said is declining civility on X.

“[I]t's worth reflecting on just how much [the] tone of discourse has fallen here over the past couple of years,” Buterin said. “I feel like a lot of people have been okay with rising aggressiveness because the target of the aggressiveness was one faction that they disliked, but once that beast is summoned, its nature is to look for new targets,” they may not like, he added.

He became even harsher in his criticism of X’s growing incivility, citing German pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous “First they came” commentary about the rise of the Nazis in post-World War I Germany.

“This isn't the kind of memetic beast we want running the show when we're entering an era of dangerous global political competition and rapidly improving AI,” Buterin added. “It's not ‘wartime mode’ that will get humanity to Mars in one piece, it's something brighter – and we should get into that mode today.”