CNN host Abby Phillip called out Elon Musk on Friday after several conservative social media users on his X platform (formerly Twitter) criticized his immigration takes and have since alleged that their accounts have faced restrictions.
Far-right firebrand Laura Loomer is among those tied to at least 14 right-wing X accounts claiming that their blue checkmarks — and other features afforded to premium users — have disappeared, NBC News reported.
“Well, the free speech apparently doesn’t apply to criticizing Elon Musk,” said Phillip of the billionaire, who once dubbed himself a “free speech absolutist.” He’s previously been accused of “silencing” critics on the platform.
Conservative critics alleged censorship on the platform this week after the billionaire weighed in on immigration and H-1B work visas.
The topic has been central to intense debate among conservatives and exposed divisions among President-elect Donald Trump’s base on Thursday after Vivek Ramaswamy unleashed a screed on American “mediocrity.” (Ramaswamy is an investor in HuffPost’s parent company, BuzzFeed.)
Musk appeared to support such visas when he replied to a post on X by entrepreneur Mario Nawfal, who wrote that “streamlining high-skilled immigration” would be an “urgent” solution to a talent shortage in Silicon Valley.
Musk and Ramaswamy look to head Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency advisory group while the president-elect prepares to enact sweeping mass deportation plans in his incoming administration.
Aside from Loomer, other right-wingers have claimed that their blue checkmarks — and associated features — are missing on X including New York Young Republican Club president Gavin Wax, InfoWars host Owen Shroyer, Students for Trump chair Ryan Fournier, multiple mediaoutletsnoted.
NBC News reported that many of the accounts impacted by the X rollbacks are tied to ConservativeOG, a pro-Trump political action committee.
Preston Parra, chairman of the PAC, told CNN in a statement that roughly 53 accounts linked to his group lost their verification on Musk’s platform.
“If anyone thinks for one minute the REAL backbone of the right wing and MAGA is gonna stand idly by while these big tech gillionaire Silicon Valley dweebs who didn’t get bullied enough in high school, steal our country, they’re mistaken,” he said.
Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and Trumpally who hasgoneafter Musk onseveral occasions in recent days, told Rolling Stone magazine that her voice had been “stifled” because she disagrees with the billionaire.
“I should be allowed to speak my mind without being restricted,” said Loomer, an anti-Muslim extremist who was banned from Musk’s platform in 2018 only to later have her account reinstated after the billionaire acquired the site in 2022.
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“These are Trump policies and Big Tech can’t just silence every Trump supporter who speaks out about the conflicts of Big Tech infiltration of the Trump admin.”
H/T: Mediaite