Elon Musk accused of censoring Laura Loomer, MAGA Republicans on X

Tech billionaire Elon Musk faced accusations of censorship on Friday from conservative colleagues after several prominent right-wing accounts that had criticized Musk’s views on immigration said they subsequently lost access to premium features on the social media app. Musk, X.

According to a review by NBC News. Some reports said that the number of people affected was much higher.

All accounts were still active on Friday, but without access to monetization features; some of them said they were concerned about their ability to continue publishing.

Some conservatives said they viewed X’s actions as a betrayal by Musk, who bought the service then known as Twitter in 2022 in part because he said it had unfairly limited conservative speech. Musk has since called himself a defender of free expression, even as he calls for imprisoning some of his critics.

Musk and X did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. But on Thursday night, about an hour before some conservatives began complaining about losing access to X’s premium features, Musk posted what he called “a reminder” about X. He wrote that the site’s algorithm automatically reduces a user’s reach if they are frequently blocked or muted by other credible users.

“If verified and much more credible subscriber accounts (not bots) mute/block your account compared to those who like your posts, your reach will decrease significantly,” Musk posted.

But instead of satisfying people complaining about censorship, the post sparked even more accusations that Musk was shadow-banning his conservative critics or reducing engagement on his posts without officially disclosing such actions to the affected accounts.

X’s actions came amid a heated online debate over the issue of future immigration policy under President-elect Donald Trump, with anti-immigration MAGA loyalists denouncing the influence of pro-immigration tech executives and investors like Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. .

Many of the affected accounts said they were affiliated with a particular media brand, ConservativeOG.

Preston Parra, a 23-year-old influencer and director of ConservativeOG, said he viewed X’s actions as a “political takedown” in retaliation for publicly disagreeing with Musk’s pro-immigration views.

He said he plans to continue fighting Musk, not only to restore his premium features but also to ensure that Trump enforces restrictive immigration policies.

“If anyone thinks for a minute that the REAL backbone of the right and MAGA will stand by while these big dumb Silicon Valley tech billionaires who weren’t bullied enough in high school steal our country, you’re wrong.” Parra said in a text message. He said he believes Musk is a “Trojan horse” in the Trump camp.

Trump announced with much fanfare that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” shortly after the Nov. 5 election. But in recent days, after venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan was announced as a White House adviser on artificial intelligence policy, Trump’s allies in the tech world, including Musk and Ramaswamy, have come under scrutiny and a deeper criticism from the far right for his previous statements about or participation in legal immigration.

Musk is an immigrant, born and raised in South Africa. He became a US citizen in 2002.

At least three of the affected X accounts have more than 1 million followers each, including the accounts of Ryan Fournier and Laura Loomer.

Fournier, co-founder of Students for Trump, said he had a verified blue badge on the social media app since 2016. He wrote on X that he had “no idea why” he lost it this week. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Loomer, a far-right activist and close Trump ally, said X had demonetized her (cutting off her ability to collect subscription fees and other revenue on the site) and revoked her blue checkmark about two days after she started to criticize Musk for Visas for the technology industry.

On Tuesday, Loomer wrote in X that tech billionaires “are like termites that have descended on Palm Beach,” where Trump is working on the presidential transition from his Mar-a-Lago resort. And he continued his criticism as the week progressed.

Musk mentioned her in a post on Thursday, writing: “Loomer is looking for attention. Ignore.”

And hours later, Loomer says his account lost access to premium features.

“Looks like Elon Musk is going to silence me for supporting Trump’s original immigration policies,” he posted on X, calling the changes to his account “retaliation.” She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrew Torba, CEO of the far-right social media app Gab, has praised Musk in the past, but on Friday criticized the billionaire for silencing others and invited disgruntled X users to come to his platform. Torba is openly anti-Semitic and on Friday also posted that people have “two options: be racist or be replaced.”

It is not the first time that X and Musk have been accused of silencing users, despite Musk’s commitments to free speech. In September, X said it temporarily suspended a journalist for publishing private personal information after he shared a document that appeared to have been stolen from the Trump campaign. In 2022, the platform suspended the accounts of several other journalists who wrote about Musk.

In July, X suspended the “White Dudes for Harris” account, which supported Vice President Kamala Harris against Trump, and in August temporarily closed “Progressives for Harris.”



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