Elon Musk agrees with Tweet saying Americans aren’t smart enough for tech jobs

Here’s a heartwarming story that should bring you joy this holiday season: The worst people you know are all struggling. U MAGA v. Tech Right feud that began on Christmas, spurred by a split allowing skilled immigrant workers to come to the United States, was escalated by Elon Musk on Thursday. Trump’s “first friend” has claimed that far-right figures like former Trump orbiter Laura Loomer are trolls and has allegedly removed her Twitter verification status.

Musk spent much of yesterday ramping up support for the H-1B visa programs, which allow American companies to hire non-citizens for specialty occupations and have become a favorite tool in the tech industry to attract talent. global. He also did it in the most 4chan-ish way possible, he answers in agreement to a post by Autism Capital who stated that the tech industry does not hire Americans because “you guys are retarded.“

That put him in the crosshairs of the nationalist right, which supports Trump largely because of his promise to limit immigration. Figures like Loomerhost of InfoWars Owen Shroyerand others took shots at Musk and other tech-right figures like Vivek Ramaswamy for their strict pro-immigration stance. As Musk distanced himself from the conversation, attributing it mainly to trolling, his biggest critics also saw their blue ticks removed from their profiles.

Loomer, ShroyerNewsmax contributor Gavin Waxand political action committee Conservative OG all lost their verification in the fallout of the H-1B visa battle after being explicitly opposed to Musk and friends. De-verification will not only cost them the check mark, but also the payouts from their attention seeking posts and any income they have generated. premium subscribers who supported it.

BREAKING:

🚨🚨🚨@elonmusk removed my blue checkmark on X because I questioned his support for H1B visas, the replacement of American tech workers by Indian immigrants, and I questioned his relationship with China.

Looks like Elon Musk will silence me… pic.twitter.com/6hvTGCEZHw

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 27, 2024

These accounts likely lost their verification status due to their association with ConservativeOG. One way to receive verification on Twitter is through affiliation with a verified organization, which ConservativeOG was previously, as seen by the gold mark that was once displayed on his profile. At some point, ConservativeOG got busted, and so did everyone else. Loomer and ConservativeOG have ties, as seen on a archived version of Loomer’s account which displays the ConservativeOG logo next to its verification badge. It’s unclear whether Loomer’s actions cost the entire organization its vetting status.

Loomer is currently sitting in Twitter Jail, suspended for 12 hours on a post in which he falsely accused Sriram Krishnan, Trump’s first policy adviser on artificial intelligence, of donating to presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

It’s worth noting that the purge of tick marks seems to reach beyond those directly engaged in the H-1B visa debate. The RawAlerts account, which posts almost exclusively clickbait and drama-farming content, as well lost his verificationand a number of other users have raised concerns that their verification status is under review with no explanation as to why.

In the middle of the whole immigration kerfuffle, Musk announced a tweak to Twitter’s algorithm that will drop in ranking posts from users who are blocked or muted by “credible and verified subscriber accounts”—a move Loomer interpreted as an attack on her because nothing has ever happened that is not about her. But it is possible that the revision of the verification badges is related to the adjustment of the algorithm.

Regardless, it appears that Musk’s goodwill with MAGA loyalists is in short supply. It’s clear that Musk and other techies who have decided to stick with Trump are trying to turn the page and leave the H-1B debate behind, potentially going as far as trying to bury the bills leading the opposition. But the far right has only dug in its heels following the shadowy deverification move and seems intent on continuing the fight. May they all lose.