It appears Elon Musk may not be buying Twitter after all.

The Associated Press reported in the past weekend’s edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette that the tycoon says he is terminating his $44 billion buyout deal to acquire the social media platform.

The matter likely will now head to the courts to determine who owes who what.

As the Associated Press noted, much of what drove the bid were Musk’s lamentations that Twitter was failing to live up to its potential as a bastion for free speech.

But this debate, frankly, was always grounded in a peculiarly incorrect understanding of what free speech is, with a peculiarly inappropriate figure to champion “free speech” absolutism.

Twitter is, and has always been, a private company. Like Facebook. Like Fox News. Like Joe Rogan’s podcast. Demands that Twitter avail itself to whoever wanted to use it to amplify their message was never about free speech, any more than demanding that Fox News or Joe Rogan allot a set number of minutes to progressive gadfly and former cabinet member Robert Reich or caustic pundit Keith Olbermann would be a sincere effort to ensure Reich or Olbermann have “free speech.”

Private entities have rights as well. And forcing Twitter or Fox News or Joe Rogan’s podcast to include guests or speakers with whom they are uncomfortable doesn’t advance the right to “free speech” — it violates the rights of the creators and owners of these private entities.

Moreover, Musk, as an industrialist, has significant ties to China. Musk has praised labor conditions at Chinese plants and has a history of compliance with the whims of China’s dictatorship, as chronicled by Newsweek.

And of course, there was the incident in 2018 in which Vernon Unsworth, a British caver involved in saving several children from a cavern collapse, offered criticisms of Musk’s impractical offer of a miniature submarine in the rescue attempt. Rather than acknowledge Unsworth had every right to freely speak his criticisms, Musk baselessly accused Unsworth of being a pedophile to reporters — clearly an effort to punish Unsworth for speaking freely.

So as the pitch to buy Twitter devolves into recriminations and legal proceedings, it’s important to reflect on this: It was never about free speech. And Elon Musk never had the credibility to champion even this incorrect understanding of “free speech.”