Tech billionaire Elon Musk faced accusations of censorship on Friday from fellow conservatives after several prominent right-wing accounts that criticized Musk's views on immigration said they then lost access to premium features on Musk's social media app, X.
At least 14 wallet accounts said late Thursday or Friday that X had revoked their blue verification badge, cutting them off from a variety of premium features, including the ability to monetize their accounts through subscriptions. and ad revenue sharing, according to a review by NBC News. Some accounts said that the number of those affected was much higher.
All accounts were still active on Friday, but without access to monetization features; Some 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 unfairly limited conservative speech. Since then, Musk has called himself a defender of free speech, even as he called for some of his critics to be imprisoned.
Musk and X did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. But on Thursday night, about an hour before some conservatives started complaining about losing access to premium X features, Musk posted what he called a “reminder” on X. He wrote that the site's algorithm automatically reduces a user's access if they are blocked or muted. Repeatedly reviewed by other credible users.
“If more credible and verified subscriber accounts (not bots) ignore/ban your account compared to those who like your posts, your reach will drop dramatically,” Musk posted.
But instead of appeasing people complaining about censorship, the post sparked more accusations that Musk was blocking his conservative critics or reducing engagement with their posts without officially disclosing such actions to the affected accounts.
X's actions came amid a heated online debate on the topic of future immigration policy under President-elect Donald Trump, with anti-immigration MAGA loyalists condemning the influence of pro-immigration tech executives and investors like Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. .
Many of the affected accounts said they were affiliated with one media brand in particular, ConservativeOG.
Preston Barra, a 23-year-old influencer and president 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 regain his privileged advantages, but also to ensure Trump follows through on his restrictive immigration policies.
“If anyone thinks for one minute that the true backbone of the right wing and MAGA are going to stand by while these Silicon Valley billionaires who weren't bullied enough in high school steal our country, they are wrong.” Parra said in a text message. He said he believes Musk is a “Trojan horse” in Trump's camp.
Trump announced that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead a “new administration for government efficiency,” to great fanfare, shortly after the November 5 election. But in recent days, following the announcement of venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as a White House adviser on AI policy, Trump's allies in the tech world — including Musk and Ramaswamy — have come under deeper scrutiny and criticism from the far right over their past statements about or involvement in immigration. Legal.
Musk is an immigrant, born and raised in South Africa. He became a US citizen in 2002.
