Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has stepped in to support a University of Illinois student facing disciplinary action for posts made on the platform. This intervention aligns with Musk’s commitment made in August to fund legal defenses for users penalized for their online expressions.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Elon Musk announced that he will provide unlimited legal funding for individuals who have been unfairly treated by their employers due to their activities on X (previously Twitter), which challenge the prevailing narrative.
“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill. No limit. Please let us know,” Musk wrote in a post.
If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.
No limit.
Please let us know.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
Musk further pledged that such legal battles would be carried out on a significant scale and will target not only the companies but their boards of directors as well.
“And we won’t just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too,” Musk wrote, responding to a comment on his original post.
And we won’t just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
The student, Juan David Campolargo, encountered trouble after advertising an event as an open gathering with free food, which was actually a closed conference. This led to accusations of violating the university’s student code of conduct. The potential consequences for Campolargo include conduct probation and eviction from campus housing, according to Financial Times.
Represented by Schaerr Jaffe lawyers, funded by X Corp, the legal team issued a warning to the university on November 14. They argued that punishing Campolargo for his September 30, 2023 posts would infringe on his First Amendment rights. They threatened to sue if the university upheld its preliminary findings against Campolargo.
NEWS: ‘s lawyers have come to the defense of an Illinois student being threatened with disciplinary action by his university over posts he made on the platform.
This is the first known example so far of X paying legal fees to support users’ free speech, as promised in August. pic.twitter.com/yFyK9dOwxS
— X News Daily (@xDaily) November 16, 2023
Financial Times reported:
According to the letter, Campolargo ran an account on X sharing information about where open events were taking place on the university campus that had free food. However, following a complaint, the university charged him with violations of the university’s code of conduct for “inciting, aiding, or encouraging others to engage in a behavior which violates the Student Code”, and for theft, alleging that an event he had promoted, and later taken food from, was a private conference.
In the letter, Schaerr Jaffe alleged that there were procedural irregularities in the university’s treatment of Campolargo, that there was further evidence that was not considered, and that the sanctions imposed were not appropriate.
The University of Illinois said it was not familiar with the letter or allegations, but added: “We cannot comment on specific students due to federal privacy laws and our student discipline process is confidential.”
Schaerr Jaffe confirmed that it had sent a letter earlier this week and that it was providing assistance with support from X, but declined to comment further.
According to his website, Campolargo is an engineering student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has given several TedX talks and self-published a book on lithium.
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