X suspends ‘White Dudes for Harris’ account after massive fundraiser

SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk’s social media platform X suspended “White Dudes for Harris” Monday night, shortly after a massive fundraising call where almost 200,000 people helped raise more than $4 million for the vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee.

The account, @dudes4harris, was reinstated Tuesday morning after it was blocked hours due to “a user report” for “violating our rules against evading suspension,” according to a screenshot shared with The Washington Post. Organizer Ross Morales Rocketto said the group submitted a complaint to X, but had no other direct communication from the platform.

“We hosted the event, and it was wholesome and a bunch of dudes being earnest, getting inspired and excited,” Morales Rocketto said in an interview with The Post. “And suddenly we realized the [X] account had been suspended and we had no idea why.”

“White Dudes for Harris” has no affiliation with the Harris campaign, but was created to energize voters — in this case, White men — for Vice President Harris. It is part of a string of identity-focused groups, such as Black Women for Harris and White Women for Harris, that have been holding calls and fundraisers in earnest since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race.

The more than three-hour-long online call Monday evening featured actors Mark Hamill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sean Astin and Josh Gad, among others who expressed their support and enthusiasm for Harris on the presidential ticket.

The suspension on X, which occurred as the group and its allies were posting heavily about the event after it ended, reflects broader concerns among Democrats that the platform, which Musk bought in 2022, could be used to influence the online discourse in the months leading up to the presidential election.

Musk endorsed former president Donald Trump on the platform this month and has been using it to stump for the GOP candidate. The billionaire has 192 million followers on the platform, giving him a far larger social media megaphone than most any other individual — even President Biden, Harris or Trump.

Musk and X did not respond to a request for comment about the suspension of the “White Dudes for Harris” account and its reinstatement.

Morales Rocketto said he and his team did not receive any communication from X or Musk about the suspension, but he felt the move was “suspicious.” A duplicate account, @dudesforharris, was created during the event, but it is unclear what role — if any — that may have played in the suspension.

“I think it’s a little convenient that my [X] mentions have been full of white supremacists, saying nasty things about me and the organization,” he said. “And our account got suspended, but somehow those accounts continue to tweet at us.”

This isn’t the first time an account affiliated with the Harris campaign has run into trouble with its X account.

On July 21, the day Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris, numerous X users reported that they were unable to follow an official Harris campaign account, @KamalaHQ. It had previously been a Biden campaign account, but gained hundreds of thousands of followers in a matter of hours when it changed its name and handle to represent the Harris campaign.

Some users who tried to follow the account that evening reported seeing a message that said: “Limit reached: You are unable to follow more people at this time.”

The incident raised questions among Democratic leaders. On July 23, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) wrote an open letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, urging Jordan to join him in launching an investigation as to how and why it happened and whether Musk had a hand in the “apparent censorship” of a candidate for president.

“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.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment on Nadler’s claims of “apparent censorship.”

When Musk acquired the platform in October 2022, he pledged to make it a haven for free speech. He laid off a majority of the staff, loosened the site’s rules on hate speech, ended its policy against covid-19 misinformation and reinstated a number of previously banned accounts.

This is the first presidential election cycle where Musk is in charge of the platform. Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist, said Musk has made X a “true free speech platform now,” which will be “to Trump’s substantial benefit.”

Gene Kimmelman, a technology policy expert who has worked for Democratic administrations, said X has “enormous” influence over public thinking.

“It’s a concern if that power is abused to benefit one political player,” Kimmelman said. “If they favor one candidate who they think will be willing to deliver benefits for them, that’s an enormous danger to our democratic system.”