"Very important" - Elon Musk urges netizens to watch eye-opening Joe Rogan Experience episode

Elon Musk endorsed a recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode on X. Aired on Dec. 3, the episode features Joe Rogan in conversation with Mike Benz, a former U.S. Department of State official. He's also the Executive Director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, a watchdog that advocates for freedom of speech and open and free internet.

Musk, who shares a close personal relationship with Rogan, shared the link to the podcast episode on X. The caption read:

"Very important to hear this. Forward to friends."

Benz served in the White House during Donald Trump's first presidential term, advising on technology-related issues. He also handled responsibilities like speech writing and led the government's cyber department. On the JRE podcast, he shed light on several sensitive issues related to the internet and free speech.

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Mike Benz explains origin of internet censorship to Joe Rogan

The issues of internet censorship and free speech have been fiercely debated on public platforms in recent years. In the aforementioned episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mike Benz explained Joe Rogan the origin of the free speech doctrine. He also shed light on what caused the United States government to abandon it.

Benz said that the US government and military promoted free speech after the World Wide Web became available for civilian use in 1991. The free speech doctrine aided US-supported groups in other countries in resisting state control over media.

However, he argued that this commitment to speech diplomacy ended following the United States' active role in removing the democratically elected Ukrainian government in 2014 through a civilian coup.

Benz explained that the Eastern part of Ukraine, which has a majority ethnic Russian population, rejected the newly established US-backed government and felt alienated. This discontent resulted in Crimea joining Russia through a referendum.

According to Benz, these events set the stage for the US government to abandon the free speech doctrine:

"That, sort, of, set in motion the events that would end the concept of free speech diplomacy as the US Government confedered goods. What we argued is that we have put $5 billion of government money into the media institutions in Ukraine... to set up independent media companies. Basically, sponsoring Mockingbird-style media assets in the region, and they still didn't penetrate Eastern Ukraine, which was primarily ethnic Russian. Didn't penetrate Crimea either. So they said, we need to be able to stop them from combating our media influence."

According to Benz, the US government adopted the Gerasimov doctrine, which justified the internet censorship:

"All we need to do is take over the media in these NATO countries, primarily social media, get one of our pawns elected as the president and that president will control the military. So it's much cheaper and more efficient to win a military war by simply winning a civilian election. That's Gerasimov Doctrine, that's what set the early censorship infrastructure."

Check out Mike Benz's comments below (3:08):