CNN’s Abby Phillip Weighs In On Laura Loomer’s X Account Restriction, MAGA Infighting: ‘Free Speech Apparently Doesn’t Apply to Criticizing Elon Musk’
CNN anchor Abby Phillip questioned Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech on X (formerly Twitter) Friday night while she noted Laura Loomer apparently had her account restricted after she criticized the tech billionaire.
Amid two days of MAGA infighting on the platform about Musk’s influence with President-elect Donald Trump and foreign work visas, Loomer claimed her account was censored.
In one viral exchange, Musk replied to Loomer – who has 1.4 million followers and at the time was verified – to accuse her of “trolling” amid a larger dispute about immigrant tech workers from India.
In subsequent posts, Loomer was no longer verified and claimed she was being targeted by Musk for getting on his bad side.
It was unclear late Friday night why Loomer and other far-right influencers experienced issues with their accounts. NBC News reported of the continued MAGA infighting:
At least 14 conservative accounts said X revoked their verification badge, cutting them off from premium features including the ability to monetize their accounts through subscriptions and ad revenue-sharing, according to a review conducted by NBC News.
On NewsNight on CNN, Phillip discussed the MAGA fighting with a panel that included Scott Jennings and Coleman Hughes. Phillip said:
One of the other subplots of all of this is what’s been going on on X because Laura Loomer, Elon Musk having this fight has resulted in him apparently – well, allegedly, according to her – banning her from certain features of Twitter, basically closing off all of her subscribers. She’s saying that this is basically cancel culture that Elon Musk doesn’t like what she’s been saying and has basically locked her out of the platform. It would not be the first time that this is he’s been accused of doing something like that.
Hughes noted that Musk purchased Twitter and promised to restore free speech to the platform. He commented he did not wish to see the Tesla CEO become a “hypocrite” on the issue.
Phillip replied, “Well, the free speech apparently doesn’t apply to criticizing Elon Musk.”
Watch above via CNN.
