Twitter CEO Elon Musk is receiving praise from the far-right for his continual embrace of the movement’s most controversial figures.
On Friday, a QAnon-linked promoter known as “KanekoaTheGreat” openly celebrated the fact that Musk had subscribed to their Twitter account.
“Incredible,” they wrote. “Thank you for subscribing! @elonmusk.”
Kanekoa, who describes themselves as an “Independent Citizen Journalist,” is one of numerous far-right accounts allowed back on the platform following Musk’s acquisition. As noted in a report from the liberal non-profit media watchdog Media Matters in March, Musk had long been interacting with the account prior to subscribing.
Between Dec. 16, 2022 and March 20, according to Media Matters’ analysis, Musk replied to Kanekoa at least 24 times. Musk’s decision to subscribe, which costs a user $5 per month to do, is just the latest nod the billionaire has given to the far-right.
Aside from their membership in the QAnon influencer collective known as “We The Media,” Kanekoa has also been involved with anti-vaccine groups as well as campaigns falsely targeting election software companies for the results of the 2020 election, all hallmarks of the conspiracy.
Despite their involvement with We The Media, Kanekoa said in a March tweet that they’ve “literally never talked about qanon.”
While Musk has never publicly commented on whether he believes in the QAnon conspiracy theory, his support for such figures and symbols has earned him praise.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the subway killing of Jordan Neely, Musk’s sudden focus on Black crime statistics also appears to have earned him applause from white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
In remarks on his Telegram account on Monday, Fuentes stated that “Elon Musk is redpilled,” a term used to suggest that the billionaire now agrees with a far-right worldview.
Fuentes went on to defend Musk despite being banned from the platform just one day after he was let back on in January.
“Obviously I wish that my account was reinstated, but it’s inarguable at this point that Elon’s hostile takeover of Twitter has been a massive W for the American Right,” Fuentes wrote. “Not only has he replatformed thousands of rw accounts, but he himself is using his platform to post content that is more based than almost anyone in the mainstream American Right on race and other issues.”
Despite his regular interactions and agreements with far-right figures, Musk denied during a recent interview with Bill Maher that he was actually right-leaning. Nevertheless, his ongoing promotion of such characters is being openly celebrated by the biggest names on the far-right.
