Elon Musk shadowbanned Tesla union Twitter account, organizers allege
Christopher Hutton
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Tesla employees claim that Elon Musk shadowbanned their Twitter account after they attempted to unionize, raising fears of a conflict of interest in Musk’s management of the social media platform.
A group of AutoPilot employees at the Buffalo Gigafactory claimed in a National Labor Review Board complaint Friday that Musk quietly suppressed their Twitter account after they announced intentions to form a union. The “shadowban” was allegedly put in place the day after they stated their aim of unionizing.
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“The shadow ban caused the Union’s account to be less accessible and functionally hidden from workers and the public on Twitter, thereby stopping or discouraging protected concerted and/or union activity,” they said in the complaint. The union formed its account sometime in February but was quickly informed after that users were struggling to access it.
The account was placed under a search or search suggestion ban, according to online tests run by Vice.
The employees announced their intentions on Tuesday to form a union. Several union organizers were fired the next day, which they claimed was a response to their unionization activities. Tesla responded by calling the claims “false allegations” and saying that the employees were let go because they did not meet employee standards.
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Musk has promoted himself as a “free speech absolutist” and pledged to allow all sorts of speech onto the platform. Yet he has amended the company’s speech policy in the past to ensure details about himself did not get out. For example, he updated Twitter’s real-time data policy and banned @elonjet, an account that tweeted the location of Musk’s jet, on the grounds that the data could be used to track him in real-time and could be used to harm him. Musk eventually reinstated the account by requiring it to post the information on a delay.