Vitalik Buterin urges Elon Musk to ‘turn down the heat’ amid H1B visa debate

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin urged Elon Musk to adopt a more measured tone in discussions about the H1B visa program.

The latest exchange comes amid accusations of censorship and heated debate over X.

Vitalik Buterin weighs in on Musk’s comments

Buterin’s comments were in response to a tweet from Musk defending the H1B visa program, which allows US companies to hire foreign workers. The original tweet read:

“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this matter which you cannot understand.”

It sparked a massive backlash from conservatives who argued that the program put American workers at a disadvantage.

The controversy deepened when some users accused Musk of using his platform to censor dissenting opinions. Critics claimed X had removed premium features from accounts critical of Musk’s stance on H1B visas, which raised concerns about free speech on the platform.

Public discourse must prioritize reason over power

In his response, Buterin acknowledged Musk’s advocacy of the free movement of people as “an important freedom,” but warned against aggressive rhetoric and alleged censorship. He also discussed the dangers of overusing censorship methods such as banhammer, a term commonly used to describe the removal of users or content from platforms.

The Ethereum co-founder argued that while they may seem effective in the short term, they ultimately set a dangerous precedent.

Control of these tools changes over time, and their repeated use risks legitimizing greater censorship, undermining public discourse, and leading to the dominance of power rather than reasoned debate, as he describes that “the winner will be the man with the biggest hammer, not the man with the best arguments.”

He also criticized the wider deterioration of public discourse and warned that such behavior could create long-term divisions, like a “memetic beast” that indiscriminately targets new groups.

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