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ELON MUSK HAS been accused of censoring far-right accounts that have differing views on immigration to him.
The owner of X, formerly Twitter, is in the midst of a row online centred around the United States’ H1-B visas that allow companies to bring foreigners with specific qualifications into the country.
The permits are widely used in Silicon Valley, and Musk – who himself came to the United States from South Africa on an H1-B – is a fervent advocate.
It’s a major rift among incoming US President Donald Trump’s hardcore backers.
It started when Trump named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on artificial intelligence, triggering a racially charged backlash that brought up Krishnan’s past comments advocating for green cards for skilled workers.
Musk, who bankrolled Trump’s campaign for a second term in office, said bringing in engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning”.
This is the right position for those who want America to win.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2024
For those who want America to lose for their own personal gain, I have no respect. Zero. https://t.co/2WxAjZzDfW
Vivek Ramaswamy, appointed by Trump as Musk’s co-chair on a new advisory board on government efficiency, suggested that companies prefer foreign workers because they lack an “American culture,” which he said venerates mediocrity.
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” he posted, warning that, without a change in attitude, “we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.”
This view has unsurprisingly sparked backlash among some fervent anti-immigration Republicans – a stance embedded in Trump’s presidential campaign.
Last 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.
Please restore my blue check @elonmusk
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 28, 2024
How can you can you support ID verification and then strip away someone’s ability to do Id verification?
That is hypocrisy.
Please allow me to verify my identity as a paying @premium user. I paid for your service when others wouldn’t. https://t.co/mk9LxC3JKU
When Musk bought the site in 2022, so began a marked change in how it operated and the type of views that were promoted.
He described it as a policy of “freedom of speech” but not “freedom of reach”, meaning negative posts wouldn’t be banned but would be less likely to appear on feeds.
He also said this policy would apply to individual tweets and not entire accounts.
That said, any accounts found to be engaged in coordinated attacks to spam target accounts with mute/blocks will themselves be categorized – correctly – as spam.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2024
Live by the spam, die by the spam. https://t.co/xo6aN4eAzR
Some users say that when they click into posts marked as spam, they are not spam at all, but regular posts.
Skepticism over the benefits of immigration is a hallmark of the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement and Musk and his peer’s remarks angered some supporters who accused them of ignoring US achievements in technological innovation.
In what appears to be a pointed post, incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller shared a 2020 speech in which Trump marveled at the American “culture” that had “harnessed electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the Internet.”
It should be noted, however, that it was Englishman Michael Faraday who discovered that an electric current could be produced by passing a magnet through a copper wire.
John Cockroft, who was from Yorkshire, and Ernest Walton, who was from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, are credited with being the first to split the atom.
Alexander Graham Bell was a British subject in Canada when he invented the telephone.
Trump voiced opposition to H1-B visas during his successful first run for the White House in 2016, calling them “unfair for our workers” while acknowledging that he used foreign labor in his own businesses.
He placed restrictions on the system when he took office, but the curbs were lifted by President Joe Biden.
With reporting by AFP
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Who
Genuinely never heard of the guy but good that he’s gone if he’s against a womans right to healthcare
@denis silver: maybe that’s why you never heard of him, he didn’t tow the line
@mickey mac: he’s allowed his opinion,the same as I am allowed to say he’s a backward, anti womens choice weirdo
@denis silver: Healthcare. At least have the balls to be honest.
@daragh harmon: It’s a womans body, so it’s her healthcare issue.
What bit am I being dishonest about
Rumour has it he’s planning a trip in a time machine back to the 1940s.
All part of Mary Lou’s masterplan! The Great Replacement is in full swing! TAL
@Alan Kennedy: calm down there wee son ,go back upstairs and try on your KKK uniform
@sean weir: Nothing wrong with a KKK uniform. The way this country is being repopulated with illegals you might need to drop into my shop for a fitting.
Another do-nothing ex sports “celebrity” who used his minor fame to get elected and then oppose women getting healthcare. Maybe Irish people should elect people who are passionate about chaming the country for the better and not some lad who used to manage a GAA team. Anyway, he’ll be able to collect a substantial pension for the rest of his life and I suppose that’s all he really cared about in the first place.
@Sylvia Power: or maybe a eurovision host, or a dancing jockey
@mickey mac: or maybe you, if you’ve ever achieved anything.
Bad news coming down the road just like next door in Britain, lots of them getting out before the place explodes. Louth politicians of all hues failed the people there, Dundalk & Drogheda riddled with crime & then they allowed Roderic O Gorman make fools of them with the D Hotel in Drogheda. Tullamore yesterday, where next & we are taking in record numbers every week, housing them, medical cards & social welfare, it won’t end well.
Another one bites the dust
Jumps before been pushed
He with the impenetrable Louth accent. You wouldn’t know if it was English or Urdu he was speaking.
@Mark Reville: Urdu is probably more widely spoken there these days anyway
That’s Imelda Munster, Fergus O’Dowd & Peter Fitzpatrick all sitting Louth TDs, not seeking re-election.
@Damien McDaid: Don’t worry Damien, FF have a washed out minor TV personality with no history in public service, FG might try putting forward yet one who had to drop out of the local elections for FG after it was discovered she was seeking payments to not object to planning applications, anyway none of them do anything only get jobs for close relations and friends as their assistants, so nothing to worry about things will carry on as normal.
@Eddie Garvey: What qualifications do recommend – trainee barman, serving time in an abattoir, practical experience with explosives or maybe AK45s.
@Vincent Alexander: I don’t know, maybe previous experience serving the community by serving on commities that improve society for the general public, maybe not requesting back handers and home renovations to not object to badly needed housing. You have a little think about it, write down some suggestions and show them to an adult and see if they get you an ice cream for coming up with some good ideas
@Eddie Garvey: Add to the list of qualifications the careers of the gentlemen republicans of South Armagh that cost Louth Co Co up to € 100,000 disposing of washed diesel waste. SF are the biggest objectors to house building. You have come up with one example and made a mountain out of it. Just look in the ranks of SF and you will find many more. Didn’t MCGuinness and Adams do well out of the Terror Campaign.
@Vincent Alexander: I’ve never voted Sinn Fein in my life so I don’t really know what your talking about and why your directing it at me. Why you are obsessed with Sinn Fein is something you should talk to someone about, no doubt they would argue that your obsession is good news for them if the only argument you make is don’t vote for them or the bogeyman will get you. As an aside didn’t Eamon DeValera order or at least allow FF hacks to murder Michael Collins… Pot Kettle Black
@Eddie Garvey: You were critical of FF and FG and not SF. Their candidates deserve criticism equally if you are non partisan. As regards DeValera et alia, – 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War cannot be justified.
That’s a subtitles worker put of work .
Two words spring to mind, rats and sinking ship!
If ever the phrase ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ was appropriate……
have your say