X (formerly Twitter) is reportedly taking action against accounts that criticize Elon Musk, limiting their reach through “shadow banning,” according to a U.S. newspaper.
The information was published in a report by The New York Times, which stated that three left-leaning accounts that posted critical content about the entrepreneur were secretly restricted by the platform.
According to the account owners, engagement on their profiles “virtually disappeared overnight” following interactions with Musk in December 2024.
In some cases, their accounts never returned to normal. The drop in engagement was attributed to a possible “shadow ban,” a type of ban where a user’s reach is quietly restricted by the platform.
“This goes against the kind of environment he claimed to want to build,” said Ari Cohn, lead legal counsel for tech policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“Don’t hide behind the First Amendment and freedom of speech and then do things like this,” she added.
The administrator of another left-leaning account with over one million followers reported that she used to get thousands of views on her posts, but after a public argument with Musk, engagement dropped to just a few dozen.
Anastasia Maria Loupis said she decided to run a test to confirm her suspicions. She created a new account on X and noted that its engagement was better than that of her already established account.
“If he did this to small accounts, no one would notice. But when he starts doing it to really big influencers with millions of followers, everyone notices,” Loupis told The New York Times.
Laura Loomer, who also experienced a drop in engagement after a dispute with Musk, reported the same and added that her “verified” status was temporarily removed.
“I think it’s wrong to call this a free speech platform and then block people’s ability to monetize,” Loomer told The New York Times.
Photo and video: Creative Commons. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
