Elon Musk's X steps in to try and stop The Onion from buying InfoWars

Well, here's something that sets a slightly scary precedent for the future of social media. A short while ago, we reported that satire website The Onion was looking to buy InfoWars out of bankruptcy.

However, earlier this week, the social media platform X objected to the buyout. X's representatives said that it objects to the InfoWars Twitter accounts being taken in the bankruptcy auction, as X believes it has superior ownership over them.

We've yet to see the court and The Onion's response, but this does highlight that you don't own your social media accounts, as pointed out by 404Media. Similar to how we've seen gamers come to the realisation that they are only buying a license from most digital platforms, X only gives you the license to interact with the platform.

This very much means that while Musk might tout freedom of speech, it's only a certain type of speech that is allowed to remain free. Still, it's unlikely this will ever really go on to affect an individual user in the same way as a platform like InfoWars, but it's a worthy reminder to keep an eye on those terms and conditions.