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After Kamala Harris announced her candidacy, users on X found it difficult to follow her campaign account.
For years,Republicans have accused social media platforms of silencing conservative voices. Now,Democrats in Congress are flipping the script, urging House Republicans to investigate a potential case of censorship affecting Vice PresidentKamala Harris’s presidential campaign account on X, formerlyTwitter.
After PresidentJoe Biden announced on Sunday that he would not seek reelection and after he endorsed Harris, users on X found it challenging to follow the KamalaHQ account (repurposed from BidenHQ) on the platform. DemocraticNew York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee ranking member, called on the Republican chairman,Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, to investigate whether X intentionally restricted users from following Harris’s campaign account. This move follows numerous reports of users encountering a “Limit reached” error message when trying to follow the account shortly after Biden endorsed Harris.
In his letter to Jordan, Nadler highlighted the urgency and gravity of the situation. “Regardless of political ideology, Americans have a protected interest in receiving Vice President Harris’ communications regarding her candidacy,” Nadler wrote. He stressed that Harris must be able to communicate freely with the American public as she campaigns for the highest office in the land.
Nadler provided specific examples of users who experienced these issues, citing individuals who received the “Limit reached” error message despite being able to follow other accounts without any problem. “This suggests that X may be intentionally throttling or blocking Vice President Harris’ ability to communicate with potential voters,” Nadler wrote, labeling such actions as “egregious censorship based on political and viewpoint discrimination.”
The Advocate’s social media manager corroborated these findings, recounting their own difficulties in following the @KamalaHQ account. Initially receiving error messages, they could eventually follow the account after several attempts.
Elon Musk’s ownership of X and his recent political activities are the backdrop to these concerns. Musk, who acquired the platform in 2022 and renamed it from Twitter, endorsed former PresidentDonald Trump on July 13 following an assassination attempt against the former president.
Nadler’s letter also pointed to the irony of the situation, given Jordan’s previous stance on alleged conservative censorship by tech platforms. “Given your long track record of fighting against political discrimination on the platform ‘town squares’ of American discourse, I trust that you will join me in requesting additional information from X regarding this apparent censorship,” Nadler wrote.
Nadler outlined specific questions for X, including the total number of users blocked from following KamalaHQ, the reasons behind these restrictions, any remedial actions taken, and whether Musk was personally involved in the decision-making process.
Jordan, who has led investigations into what he terms the “Censorship Industrial Complex,” has previously criticized tech platforms for alleged political discrimination against conservatives. Nadler called on Jordan to apply the same scrutiny to this incident, emphasizing the importance of addressing potential suppression of Democratic voices with the same vigor.
“It is my sincere hope that you channel the same outrage and pertinacity against platform censorship of the Democratic party as you do when conservative speech is allegedly suppressed,” Nadler wrote.
