
A social media account of white male supporters of Kamala Harris on X (formerly Twitter), which raised $4 million for Harris' campaign, was temporarily suspended on Monday (July 29). The incident sparked fury among the Harris supporters, who called it 'election interference.'
The White Dudes for Harris X account hosted a Zoom call on Monday night, successfully raising over $4 million for Harris' presidential campaign.
More than 200,000 Democrats participated in the online event, which featured notable White male celebrities such as Mark Hamill, Jeff Bridges, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bradley Whitford, Sean Astin, and Josh Groban.
The reason for the account's suspension remains unclear, but it appeared to be reinstated by early Tuesday. The suspension notice stated: "X suspends accounts which violate the X rules."
After the suspension, Ross Morales Rocketto, one of the group's organisers, tweeted, "Got @elonmusk [X owner] scared."
Brett Meiselas, co-founder of MeidasTouch, posted a photo of the suspended account on X, commenting: "This is the real election interference."
Mike Nellis, another member of the organisation, updated on Tuesday that the X account, though reinstated, is still suspended.
He announced that the account is now "permanently in read-only mode," preventing it from posting, interacting with content, or creating new accounts. Nellis urged supporters to keep donating to Harris' campaign, stating: "Don't let them silence us."
After a brief suspension, the organisers set up a backup account @dudesforharris, which swiftly attracted over 20,000 followers before the original account was reinstated. The ban sparked concerns among Democrats about Musk, who has labelled himself a “free speech absolutist.”
Once the suspension was lifted, the group tweeted, “Uh oh... we pissed off @elonmusk (don't worry... can't keep a good dude offline for long).” The post quickly gained thousands of views, leading Democratic supporters to accuse the Tesla founder of “election interference.”
(With inputs from agencies)