When you buy a social media platform in the name of free speech, you'd think the goal would be creating a digital town square where ideas compete freely. But according to Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Elon Musk's X has become something entirely different—and not in a good way.

From Town Square To Weaponized Platform

Buterin didn't mince words Tuesday when he accused Musk of turning X into a "death star laser" for "coordinated hate sessions" instead of the "global totem pole" for free speech that Musk originally promised. The cryptocurrency pioneer specifically called out what he sees as orchestrated attacks against the European Union flooding the platform.

"I'm seriously worried that huge backlashes against values I hold dear are coming in a few years' time," Buterin wrote, adding that attacks on Europe are getting "unhinged" on the platform.

It's The Algorithm, Not The Speech

When critics suggested Buterin simply wanted to censor speech he disagreed with, he pushed back with a more nuanced argument. The issue isn't what people can say—it's what Musk chooses to amplify.

Buterin accused Musk of "actively tweaking" X's algorithms to boost certain content while suppressing other voices. "As long as that power lever exists, I'd prefer it be used [without increasing its scope] to boost niceness instead of boosting ragebait," he said.

The X team didn't respond to requests for comment from MarketDash.

The EU Showdown

Buterin's critique lands amid Musk's escalating war with European regulators. After X was slapped with a $140 million fine for violating the EU's Digital Services Act transparency rules, Musk called to "abolish" the entire European Union. That came after he reposted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's statement about corruption in the bloc.

The European Commission says X broke the rules. Musk warned of retaliation against the officials who imposed the penalty. It's gotten messy.

Critics have increasingly accused Musk of wielding X as a political weapon. An NBC News analysis last month found the Tesla and SpaceX CEO regularly uses the platform to push content about immigrants, violent crime, and judges he views as too lenient—suggesting the algorithm tweaking Buterin mentioned might not be entirely imaginary.

The whole situation raises an uncomfortable question: When the owner of a major social platform openly admits to shaping what billions of users see, is it still a free speech platform? Or just free speech for whoever controls the algorithm?