Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly known as Twitter) called for more people to record what is happening in the world around them, saying it would “change the world.”

Musk has been a strong advocate for free speech; prior to buying Twitter, he tweeted, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle? The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”

The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022

On Friday, he went further, tweeting, “Please encourage more citizen journalism! You can do live video easily from your phone. More on-the-ground reporting from regular citizens will change the world.”

Please encourage more citizen journalism! You can do live video easily from your phone.

More on-the-ground reporting from regular citizens will change the world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2023

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro noted, “Here is @elonmusk taking Andrew Breitbart’s citizen journalism dream to the next level.”

Here is @elonmusk taking Andrew Breitbart's citizen journalism dream to the next level https://t.co/XQhifTezYB

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 29, 2023

In 2011, Andrew Breitbart stated, “All we did was ask of the mainstream media was to correct their bias problem. … When they wouldn’t correct themselves, citizens in the form of the Tea Party, citizens in the form of Hanna and James and people with video cameras going everywhere, said, “If you are not going to correct yourself, we’re going to create a media in the wake of your incompetency. … And that’s what [is] happening. It’s the most exciting time in the media and unfortunately, the mainstream media is so upset about it; it covers it as if we’re the villains out there.”

Speaking with Shapiro on an X Space this week, Musk spoke of free speech, saying, “In the U.S. we are able to be much more free of speech; in some other parts of the world much less so, where we have the choice of either providing the X platform or it being shuttled or throttled. And I do believe also generally, if there is someone harboring hate, and that hate is based on sort of incorrect assumptions or bad knowledge, the best way to combat that hate is to hear it and then say why it’s not true, as opposed to someone harboring secret-antisemitism or some other form of hatred, never hearing the counterpoints as to why what they believe is false. … Often I think it’s better that somebody says something and then gets dumped on, frankly, or is  corrected.”

Shapiro asked, “How can you stand up to and what sort of pledges can you make with regard to the sort of backdoor pressure attempts … when it comes to government what do you do?”

“Our policy is to resist any attempts to get censorship to the maximum degree allowed by law,” Musk responded. “In the U.S., by far the biggest pressure comes from essentially fairly far-Left activist groups and actors and coalitions. … What they’re trying to do there is impose extremely far-Left values on X and other platforms under the guise of hate speech, but it is, in fact, a matter of politics.”

A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld Tennessee and Kentucky’s bans on transgender treatments for children such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender surgeries.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to reject a challenge to the laws from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and families of trans-identifying children.

“This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments,” wrote Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton.

The ACLU called Thursday’s ruling a “devastating result” and promised to take further action.

“The disastrous impact of Tennessee’s law and all others like it has already been felt in thousands of homes and communities. Denying transgender youth equality before the law and needlessly withholding the necessary medical care their families and their doctors know is right for them has caused and will continue to cause serious harm,” the ACLU said Thursday in a statement.

Daily Wire host Matt Walsh reacted to the ruling Thursday evening, calling it “huge.”

“This is huge. Our ban on child mutilation has been upheld. When we passed the bill, trans activists gloated that they would easily get it overturned in court. Who’s gloating now you child butchering ghouls?” Walsh posted on X.

This is huge. Our ban on child mutilation has been upheld. When we passed the bill, trans activists gloated that they would easily get it overturned in court. Who’s gloating now you child butchering ghouls? https://t.co/cQCeUo2cH2

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 29, 2023

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti celebrated the ruling as well, posting on X, “Tennessee’s law that protects children from irreversible gender-related medical interventions remains in effect.”

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Tennessee Representative Jason Zachary (R) called the ruling a “big win.”

“Protecting children is a priority in TN,” Zachary said.

Another state congressman, Representative William Lamberth (R), said Tennessee will “continue to lead the way” when it comes to “protecting our children.”

“This is a huge win in the fight against a dangerous and extreme ideology that harms children and ruins lives,” Lamberth said.

A similar ban in Alabama was upheld by a federal appeals court last month. Bans in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Montana, and Indiana have been overturned.

Over the last few years, critics have sounded the alarm about the permanent effects of both gender hormone treatments and surgical procedures, especially on children.

Both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones come with serious health risks. Puberty blockers can affect bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues. Cross-sex hormones can cause infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased cancer risks of the breasts and ovaries, liver dysfunction, worsening psychological illness, and other serious conditions.

The number of gender surgeries nearly tripled in the U.S. from 2016 to 2019, according to an analysis published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. In 2016, there were about 4,550 procedures, and that number spiked to around 13,000 in 2019.

Hundreds of girls in the U.S., some as young as 12, have gotten elective, gender-related double mastectomies to remove their healthy breasts over the last few years.

Meanwhile, it is more popular than ever for youth to adopt new gender identities. An estimated 300,000 minors aged 13 to 17 identified as transgender as of last year.