He didn't stay silent for long. A few days after being dismissed by the Fox News channel, conservative presenter Tucker Carlson announced Tuesday that he would broadcast his new show on Twitter, justifying his decision by the fact that the platform is "not a partisan site" and "one of the only in the world" to defend freedom of expression.

We're back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023

Access to this content has been blocked in order to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "I ACCEPT", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I AGREE

And to better pay 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our button "I accept for today" in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Policy page.


Tucker Carlson's program on Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, averaged 3.3 million viewers in 2022, the best audience in the evening schedule of American news channels.

The presenter with the always impeccable setting is known for his radical positions and his taste for certain conspiracy theories of the extreme right. In particular, he helped popularize the myth of the "great replacement".

Twitter benevolent with conspiracy theories

His arrival on Twitter comes as many observers have noted an increase in hateful content on the platform since it was taken over by Elon Musk in October. The new majority shareholder has himself echoed several conspiracy theories from his personal account, the most followed of the social network, especially during the attack on Paul Pelosi, or, more recently after the one in a shopping center in Texas.

"There aren't many platforms that allow free speech," Carlson said in a Twitter post Tuesday. "The last one in the world, the only one, is Twitter."

In recent years, several social networks have launched themselves by playing the card of freedom of expression, including Gab, Parler, Gettr or Truth Social, created by former US President Donald Trump.

"Twitter is not a partisan site," Carlson continued. "Everyone is allowed to do so and we think it's a good thing." The 53-year-old presenter promised "a new version of the show we've been doing for six and a half years, on Twitter." It remains to be seen whether he reaches an agreement with Fox News, with a contract could, in theory, prevent him from offering a similar show on another platform.

Problematic messages

If Fox News did not give a reason for Tucker Carlson's departure, it would be mainly due to a series of messages exposed during the legal action of the Dominion company against the media group, for defamation.

These communications showed that the presenter relayed accusations of electoral fraud during the 2020 presidential election while privately expressing serious doubts about the veracity of these allegations. The messages also contained harsh criticism of Fox News journalists.

In the video posted Tuesday, Tucker Carlson accused the entire media of misleading public opinion and behaving like "propaganda organizations." To avoid a trial with a very uncertain outcome, Fox News has agreed to pay $ 787.5 million to Dominion, a company specializing in the machines of your electronics, denounced, without evidence, as an instrument of the alleged electoral fraud of 2020.

  • Entertainment
  • Fox News
  • Elon Musk