The Secret Service has launched a probe into an X post by Elon Musk in which he tweeted that “no one is even trying” to kill Kamala Harris or Joe Biden.

The tech billionaire deleted the post on his X platform and passed it off as a “joke.” However, the White House did not find it funny and instead called it “irresponsible.”

“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” the White House said in a statement. Now the Secret Service is involved.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    Let’s say you yell fire in a theater,

    Legal. This is no longer the standard for speech limitations.

    or threaten the president,

    So long as it’s a “true threat” and not hyperbole.

    or publish classified national security secrets.

    This is legal, so long as you didn’t steal them.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      1 month ago

      You’re technically correct, but you’re still an asshole.

      Punishment for yelling fire in a crowded theater isn’t a first amendment violation. Yelling fire in a crowded theater when there isn’t a fire, you know there isn’t a fire, and a stampede occurs resulting in a death, is involuntarily manslaughter.

      Punishment for death threats isn’t a first amendment violation, but it is usually coercion.

      And publishing classified data without authorization is illegal, but it’s highly nuanced. It can be considered a first amendment right of the press to publish classified documents in some circumstances, but how they obtained those documents is definitely scrutinized. Then there’s always the question of “what is press” nowadays when literally everybody carries their own personal printing press in their pocket.