White Dudes for Harris raised more than $4 million for the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, then had its X account suspended. The group had celebrated its wildly successful livestream fundraiser on the platform, writing, "This is the start of something special and we couldn't be more proud to be in this fight with you. More to come." Then suddenly the account was suspended and "we had no idea why," organizer Ross Morales Rocketto tells the Washington Post. The account @dudes4harris was blocked for hours following a user report alleging the account was violating rules "against evading suspension," according to the outlet.
The account's tweets reappeared Tuesday morning after the group submitted a complaint. But organizer Mike Nellis says the account itself "remains suspended" and is "permanently in read-only mode," per Variety. Morales Rocketto views all this as "suspicious," per the Post. It comes after X CEO Elon Musk endorsed former President Trump, claimed President Biden is "importing" immigrants to illegally vote for Harris, and shared an AI-generated video featuring a fake Harris calling herself the "ultimate diversity hire," per the New Republic. Some even suggested the AI video violated X's own policies against manipulated media.
The subsequent suspension of @dudes4harris "reflects broader concerns among Democrats that the platform, which Musk bought in 2022, could be used to influence the online discourse" ahead of the election, per the Post. "We scared @elonmusk and @DonaldJTrumpJr so much tonight they suspended our account and won't let us back in," wrote Nellis, suggesting they were "the first white dudes to ever get suspended by @elonmusk's Twitter." "These guys are running scared of the success we've had tonight, but we're not going to quit," Nellis continued. "More coming tomorrow (unless they shut down my account too!)" X and Musk have not commented. (More Twitter stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
