President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to drop out of the 2024 presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris sparked a flurry of posts about the new state of the presidential race and sparked panic.
One of the most persistent conservative contributors to Biden’s concerns has been Elon Musk, CEO of X, who tweeted 151 times on Sunday, his highest number ever.
“Trump/Vance LFG!!” Musk repeatedly shared.
Musk’s post on that day received 346 likes, his highest number to date, sparking speculation that he was panicking over the upcoming November election, which pits former President Donald Trump against a younger candidate.
“They’re worried that Harris will be harder to beat,” posted u/throwaway_12358134 in a r/EnoughMuskSpam discussion about the posting data. “Republicans have focused their entire campaign strategy on attacking Biden personally, and are purposely hiding their policies because they know they are extremely unpopular and no match for Biden’s economic and foreign policies.”
Some X posters suspected that panic led Musk to suppress Harris’ official emergency response account, saying they had been unable to trace the account despite attempts to do so.
“First time this has happened to me…I can’t follow @vp @kamalaHQ’s account because I’ve reached my ‘limit’…I’m currently following around 2500 accounts…Very suspicious – the timing seems really coincidental. This doesn’t line up with the ‘x’ in my follow limit. @x can someone explain…” @megdoyle posted along with a screenshot of the issue.
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This is the first time this has happened to me…I can’t follow the account translator translation: Because I hit a “limit”…I’m following about 2500 accounts now…Very suspicious – the timing seems coincidental 🙄 This doesn’t match the follow limit for “x” someone @Batsu explain… pic.twitter.com/V6rCpbDM46
— Megan Doyle (@megdoyle) July 22, 2024
The screenshot shows the overlay that pops up when you try to follow an account. “You’ve reached your limit,” the window reads. “You cannot follow any more people at this time.”
The Daily Dot was unable to reproduce the issue as of Monday afternoon, but the @KamalaHQ account did not appear to have any other obstacles in tracking the issue.
Despite the “limit reached” message, people who received the message posted that it was unlikely they’d reached the limit, with some saying they hadn’t been following anyone recently.
“Hey @X, can you explain?” @camrenee13 commented. “I followed 0 accounts today but for some reason I can’t follow Kamala Harris’ official campaign account? That’s suspicious.”
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Hey @Batsu Want to explain yourself? I followed 0 accounts today, but for some reason I can’t follow Kamala Harris’ official campaign account. That seems suspicious. pic.twitter.com/4PolHoKAlY
— Cameron Appel (@camrenee13) July 22, 2024
“You haven’t followed anyone new in weeks and you’re at your limit? Keep up the transparency Space Karen,” @SourceRyan posted.
According to the platform’s help center, which sets out guidelines, X has a technical limit of 400 new follows per day, but the page also notes that an individual user’s actual limit may be lower based on “additional rules prohibiting aggressive following behavior.”
“Is X blocking me from following accounts of presidential candidates? I’ve been on Twitter for 14 years and follow 653 people,” @Gaurav_Keswani posted. “I don’t think I’ve reached the limit.”
X has a history of mistakenly restricting accounts that have exploded in popularity, as Harris did last night and today: In February, X temporarily suspended the account of the wife of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny after it gained too many followers.
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