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Elon Musk is facing censorship accusations after prominent right-wing accounts claimed they lost access to premium features on X when they criticised his views on immigration.
On Friday night, Musk called some anti-immigration Republicans "contemptible fools", adding they were "hateful, unrepentant racists" who would "absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed".
At least 14 conservative accounts who criticised Musk's pro-legal immigration views said X revoked their blue tick, a verification badge given to premium account holders, according to Sky News' US partner NBC News.
That removed their ability to monetise their accounts and led to some saying they were worried about their ability to keep posting on the platform.
When Musk bought the site in 2022, he said he had a policy of "freedom of speech" but not "freedom of reach", meaning negative posts wouldn't be banned but would be "max deboosted", making them hard to find.
He said this policy would apply to individual tweets and not entire accounts.
Musk has since called himself a free-expression advocate, even as he called for jailing some of his critics.
X and Musk did not respond to NBC News' requests for comment on Friday
However on Thursday, the tech billionaire posted what he called a "reminder" on X: "If far more credible, verified subscriber accounts (not bots) mute/block your account compared to those who like your posts, your reach will decline significantly".
This led some to say he was "shadowbanning" people who disagreed with him.
Shadowbanning is when the reach of an account is significantly restricted without an official explanation or acknowledgement of the restriction.
Heated immigration debate
The allegations of censorship come amid a heated debate about immigration in the US.
It was partially sparked when Donald Trump named Indian-born entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on artificial intelligence, a move supported by tech-billionaire-turned-government-official Musk.
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Trump's anti-immigration supporters attacked the appointment, with one prominent MAGA voice, Laura Loomer, calling it "deeply disturbing".
She now claims around "75% of the replies" on her account are being marked as probable spam by Musk's platform after an online spat with the billionaire.
Tesla founder Musk - who was born in South Africa and became a US citizen in 2002 - has voiced his support for skilled immigration for a long time.
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Last year, he told his followers: "We should greatly increase legal immigration of anyone who is hard-working, honest and loves America.
"Every such person is an asset to the country.
"But massive illegal immigration of people we know nothing about is insane."
He has reiterated this view multiple times since, posting on Christmas Day: "The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low.
"Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be."
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