After Elon Musk took over Twitter, a renaissance of engagement with conservative thinkers began. Even someone as insignificant as myself compared to much larger accounts started gaining thousands of followers a month.

Recently, that growth has slowed to a trickle and impressions have fallen through the floor. Now, there’s even more direct evidence that the censorship is back with a vengeance.

Tucker Carlson recently shared statements from Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, in which both men broke from the preferred narrative on Ukraine. His account is now shadowbanned, and not showing up in searches.

Hey, @elonmusk…

Why is @TuckerCarlson’s main account banned from the search results, and why are the answers to his questions about Ukraine being censored? pic.twitter.com/mF6oqO5vh4

— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) March 15, 2023

Apparently, daring to suggest that there be any nuance in US policy toward Ukraine is off-limits for the Twitter hall monitors that remain at the company. Carlson is one of the biggest names in conservative thought (even if he strays from orthodox thinking at times). To have him search-banned is pretty nuts, and it smacks of the actions taken prior to Musk’s takeover.

That’s not the only example, though. Ron DeSantis is being personally censored for sharing a video in which a parent talks about protecting children from harmful transgender ideology. The tweet is currently throttled, with a message that claims he may have violated Twitter’s “rules against hateful conduct.”

Hey @elonmusk, why is the Governor of Florida’s tweet, which contains a clip of him speaking about protecting children, being marked as “hateful conduct” and having its visibility limited? Why is Twitter censoring the voices of detransitioners? https://t.co/8iRAJEKktA pic.twitter.com/zMvIJpf7OJ

— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) March 15, 2023

How is it hateful conduct for parents to not want children to be mutilate and chemically castrated? Is that really where we are as a society? Somehow, I doubt that’s a popular position, but it seems to be the position of Twitter.

Musk promised a free expression of ideas when he bought Twitter. That is clearly a promise that is not being kept if this kind of censorship is happening again. I’ll be charitable and assume that these are actions being taken by rogue actors still embedded in the company. But it is up to Musk to lay down the law and stop this nonsense.

Lastly, if this is a result of some non-human-involved algorithm, then that algorithm needs to be changed immediately. It is not hateful to believe in biological reality and to want to protect children. That is a mainstream position among Americans and one that needs to be shared. Musk needs to fix this and fix it immediately.