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

Tech billionaire Elon Musk was accused of censorship by fellow conservatives on Friday after several prominent right-wing accounts that had criticized Musk’s views on immigration said they were subsequently blocking access to premium features on Musk’s social media app X would have lost.

At least 14 conservative accounts said late Thursday or Friday that NBC News. Some reports said the number of those affected was far higher.

The accounts were all still active as of Friday, but without access to monetization features; Some of them said they were worried about their ability to continue posting.

Some conservatives said they criticized the actions of Since then, Musk has described himself as a champion of free speech, even as he has called for some of his critics to be jailed.

Musk and X did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. But on Thursday evening, about an hour before, some conservatives complained about losing access to the premium features of frequently blocked or muted by other, credible users.

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

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

The actions of .

Many of the affected accounts claimed to be affiliated with a specific media brand: ConservativeOG.

Preston Parra, a 23-year-old influencer and head of ConservativeOG, said he was looking at the actions of

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

“If anyone believes for one minute that the REAL backbone of the right wing and MAGA would stand by while these big tech billionaire idiots from Silicon Valley who weren’t bullied enough in high school steal our country, then they are wrong,” Parra said in a text message. He said he thinks Musk is a “Trojan horse” in the Trump camp.

Shortly after the November 5 election, Trump announced to great fanfare that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” But in recent days, after venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan was announced as a White House adviser on AI policy, Trump’s allies in the tech world — including Musk and Ramaswamy — became more specific about their past statements to or from the far right scrutinized and criticized involvement in legal immigration.

Musk is an immigrant who was born and raised in South Africa. In 2002 he became a US citizen.

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 has had a blue verified 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 visas for the tech industry.

On Tuesday, Loomer wrote on And she continued her criticism throughout the week.

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

And hours later, Loomer said her account lost access to premium features.

“Looks like Elon Musk is silencing me because I support the original Trump immigration policies,” she posted on X, calling the changes to her account “retaliatory.” She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

It’s not the first time that X and Musk have been accused of trying to silence users, despite Musk’s vowed commitment to free speech. In September, X said it had temporarily suspended a journalist for publishing private personal information after he shared a document that appeared to have been stolen from Trump’s 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 over Trump, and in August it temporarily shut down Progressives for Harris.