Elon Musk’s Critics Stripped of Verification Badge After Publicly Challenging Billionaire: ‘The Beginning Stages of Censorship’

Several conservative critics of billionaire Trump surrogate Elon Musk were stripped of their verification badges on X, Thursday after publicly challenging Musk’s stance on immigration.

Trump ally Laura Loomer, New York Young Republican Club president Gavin Wax, InfoWars host Owen Shroyer, and the pro-Trump ConservativePAC were all stripped of their verification badges after criticizing Musk’s controversial remarks about American workers and foreign H-1B visa holders.

[Musk] has removed my blue check mark on X because I dared to question his support for H1B visas, the replacement of American tech workers by Indian immigrants, and I questioned his relationship with China,” wrote Loomer in a post on Musk’s social network X, formerly known as Twitter:

Looks like Elon Musk is going to be silencing me for supporting original Trump immigration policies.

I have always been America First and a die hard supporter of President Trump and I believe that promises made should be promises kept. Donald Trump promised to remove the H1B visa program and I support his policy. Now, as one of Trump’s biggest supporters, I’m having my free speech silenced by a tech billionaire for simply questioning the tech oligarchy.

Elon has decided to retaliate by removing my blue check and demonetizing me.

I guess he doesn’t really believe in Free speech after all.

Loomer ended her post with a link to Truth Social – President-elect Donald Trump’s own social network.

While several Musk allies claimed Loomer had been stripped of her verification for changing her photo, the claim was quickly disproven.

Responding to the suggestion that her verification check was removed for an unrelated reason, Loomer wrote, “I mean right after @elonmusk called me a troll today, my account verification was taken away, my subscriptions were deactivated and I was banned from being able to buy premium even though I was already paying for premium. Clearly retaliation.”

Wax – one of the most vocal critics of Musk’s stance on H-1B visa immigration – was also stripped of his verification badge around the same time on Thursday evening.

“My verification badge is now under review. Weird! Didn’t change anything,” he announced. “Insane that blue checks are being removed from accounts that have been vocal in their criticism of the H1B racket. Horrible look. I’ve supported Elon and X. Anyone who was at the @NYYRC gala can attest that I dedicated a large portion of my speech to praising Elon. Sad!”

In another post, Wax joked, “Okay let me try this and see if I get my badge back: Americans are stupid and lazy and have created nothing. India is a superpower and has the smartest and best talent the world has ever seen. America needs 1 billion new migrants to bring us the fruits of civilization. We are stupid and must repent!

After being stripped of his own verification badge, Shroyer expressed concern about “the current situation with censorship” on Musk’s platform.

“This feels like the beginning stages of censorship on X. It feels like early-stage censorship on X,” he warned.

Several of the affected accounts appear to be affiliated with the pro-Trump ConservativePAC, which also expressed opposition to Musk’s remarks on immigration

All of our influencers have now lost verification status, as well as our own page. Our brand did nothing,” the PAC protested. “We spoke out against HB1 visas and it appears that @elonmusk intentionally shut us down? Is this the new status quo from America’s ‘most free’ social media platform?”

Another affiliate of ConservativePAC, Preston Parra, tweeted, “Woah, @elonmusk just stripped our entire organization of badges and verified org status. I guess this is what you get when you hand the keys over to an autistic, power-hungry, self-aggrandizing traitor to his country. Very pathetic, X sucks!”

Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy both received backlash on Thursday for supporting the hiring of foreign workers on H-1B visas over local Americans.

Musk then dug himself even deeper on Thursday evening after he endorsed a post which suggested Americans were too “retarded” to be hired for skilled jobs.