‘You are dead to me’: Messages reveal Musk cut ties with Twitter Files author

Twitter Files author Matt Taibbi published private messages from Elon Musk that showed the platform’s owner suppressed the journalist’s account.

Mr. Taibbi posted screenshots of conversations between him and the billionaire on X Thursday, showing a clear rift in the relationship.

In the messages, Mr. Taibbi asked Mr. Musk if he had been shadowbanned on Twitter. The owner appeared to confirm Mr. Taibbi’s fears but claimed it was not intentional.

“Looks like there is still a blanket search ban. Should be fixed by tomorrow,” Mr. Musk wrote. “Going forward, tweets with Substack will not appear in For You unless it is paid advertising, just like FB/Insta/etc. They will appear in ‘Following.’”

One day later, Mr. Taibbi tried to mend what he saw as a rapidly deteriorating relationship, but Mr. Musk was having none of it.

“You are dead to me,” Mr. Musk replied. “Please get off Twitter and just stay on Substack.”

The tone of the private messages, sent last April, paints a different picture of the relationship between Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Musk. During the publication of Twitter Files, which were released soon after Mr. Musk bought the site in 2022, Mr. Musk continuously praised the efforts of the journalist.

The tone shifted once Substack, a popular blogging site for independent writers, released its Twitter competitor, Notes, in 2023. Soon after Notes launched, Mr. Musk’s site began restricting links to Substack from Twitter.

Mr. Taibbi said Mr. Musk’s reaction to his decision to stick to Substack comes down to insecurity.

“@ElonMusk is uncomfortable around people who aren’t afraid of him, and wants to prove he can hurt my business instead of just talking to me,” he wrote on X, “even if it means suppressing access to news he thinks is important.”

For Mr. Musk’s detractors, the messages are evidence that the billionaire isn’t interested in free speech. Since taking over X, the company has worked with foreign governments to suppress critical users, suspended the accounts of journalists who have ripped him and banned a user for tracking his publicly available flight data.

But as fans of Mr. Musk will point out, his content moderation policies have let users with edgy perspectives gain more traction. That especially goes for conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, who were banned during the previous regime and are free to post content bashing liberals.