Musk accused of muzzling critics of his migration agenda

The purported move follows fierce debate on X over H-1B visas for Indian tech workers.

Elon Musk has announced a new algorithm on his social media platform X that appears to be disproportionately punishing conservatives who have vocally opposed bringing in more tech workers from India.

Musk spent $44 billion to buy Twitter in 2022 in the name of promoting free speech and pushing back on censorship, and has since renamed the platform X. He has also been a prolific user. Earlier this week, one of his posts about H-1B visa workers kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest.

“Just a reminder that the algorithm is trying to maximize unregretted user-seconds,” Musk posted on Friday. “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.”

Accounts found to engage in “coordinated attacks” targeting others with mutes or blocks will themselves be categorized as spam, Musk added.

Musk’s announcement came a few minutes after he called critics of his immigration views “subtards,” insulting their intelligence.

Meanwhile, several accounts that have openly disagreed with Musk on the issue of bringing in foreign workers have reported that their verification checkmark has disappeared. It is unclear whether the removal of their subscription status was a punitive measure by X, as the company has not commented on it.

Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to head DOGE, a special advisory body tasked with identifying government inefficiency. They appear to have stumbled into a minefield earlier this week, proclaiming their desire to expand the number of foreign workers recruited under the H-1B visa program so the US can “keep winning.”

“Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mental construct,” Musk explained.

“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” Ramaswamy wrote, arguing that a “culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” so Big Tech had no choice but to bring in foreigners.

Critics have pointed out that the H-1B program has strayed from its original purpose to bring in the “best and the brightest” talent to fill specialized roles. In practice, hundreds of X users argued, it has allowed US corporations to fire domestic talent and replace it with lower-paid, entry-level guest workers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent. They also brought up the fact that Musk immigrated from South Africa, while Ramaswamy’s parents came from India.

The vast majority of H1B visas aren’t going to 135 IQ engineers who make 250k a year.

They’re going to people who take mediocre jobs like this. The whole system is a scam, and it’s disproportionately taken advantage of by one specific country in one specific subcontinent. pic.twitter.com/N862nag6EB

— Red Eagle Politics (@RedEaglePatriot) December 28, 2024

🚨IMMIGRATION MUST BE UNAPOLOGETICALLY DISCRIMINATORY!

H-1B Visa Hot Take.

Mass invasion devastated my country🇩🇪

We were promised skilled workers.
We got CRIMlNALS.

ENFORCE STRICT CONDITONS:
Immigrants should OUTPERFORM the average American and VOW LOYALTY to the flag. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ExYyF35Kra

— Naomi Seibt (@SeibtNaomi) December 28, 2024

The H-1B visa system is not MAGA or America First. It is a cheap labor scam that is abused massively by outsourcing firms. The people receiving H-1B visas are mediocre in talent.

The O-1 visa is America First. That is a program designed for the top 1% that Elon spoke about. pic.twitter.com/PG28Q8TToy

— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 27, 2024

Image credit: Getty Images