Tech billionaire Elon Musk responded to accusations of censorship from fellow conservatives on Friday, with several high-profile right-wing accounts criticizing Musk’s views on immigration losing access to premium features on Musk’s social media app, X. faced.
At least 14 conservative accounts said X had revoked their blue verification badges, blocking a variety of premium features, including the ability to monetize their accounts through subscriptions and ad revenue sharing. NBC News. Some accounts said the number of people affected was much higher.
All of those accounts were still active on Friday, but without access to monetization features. Some of them said they were worried about whether they would be able to continue posting.
Some conservatives said they viewed X’s actions as a betrayal by Musk. Musk purchased the service, then known as Twitter, in 2022 in part because he said it unfairly restricted conservative speech. Musk later called himself a champion of free speech, even as he called for some of his critics to be jailed.
Musk and X did not respond to requests for comment Friday. But on Thursday night, about an hour before some conservatives complained about losing access to X’s premium features, Musk posted what he called a “notification” on X. He wrote that the site’s algorithm automatically reduces users’ reach. They are frequently blocked or muted by other trusted users.
“If much more trusted and verified subscriber accounts (not bots) mute/block your account compared to people who like your posts, your reach will be significantly reduced,” Musk posted.
But rather than satisfying those complaining about censorship, the post sparked accusations that Musk is shadowbanning conservative critics or reducing engagement on their posts without publicly disclosing such actions to affected accounts. It evoked more.
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Many of the affected accounts said they were affiliated with one media brand in particular: ConservativeOG.
Preston Parra, a 23-year-old influencer and head 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 Trump pursues restrictive immigration policies.
“If anyone thinks the real backbone of the right and MAGA is going to stand idly by for one minute, that these big tech genius Silicon Valley idiots who weren’t bullied enough in high school are going to steal our country, they’re mistaken.” Farah said in a text message. He said he believed Musk was a “Trojan horse” for the Trump camp.
Shortly after the November 5 election, Trump announced that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead a new ‘Department of Government Effectiveness.’ But following the recent announcement of venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as White House AI policy adviser, Trump’s tech allies, including Musk and Ramaswami, have come under deeper scrutiny and criticism from the far right for their previous comments. Participate in legal immigration.
Musk is an immigrant born and raised in South Africa. He became a U.S. citizen in 2002.
