Did You Know That @ElonMusk Has Reinstated the @X Accounts of ‘Noted Neo-Nazis, Anti-Semites, and More’?

Posted on | August 27, 2026 | No Comments

Perhaps I should mention that I have friends and family members in the legal community, and it has not escaped my notice that the decade-long suspension of my @rsmccain Twitter account has certain negative implications constituting reputational damage to myself.

Something on Wednesday brought this to mind, but first let me remind you of what I wrote for The American Spectator in March 2016:

In an age of lies, the truth is dangerous. When Twitter announced the creation of a “Trust and Safety Council” last month, every intelligent observer understood that censorship would be the result.
The purpose was obvious in Twitter’s choice for members of this Orwellian-named “council,” which includes many left-wing activist organizations, but not a single conservative or libertarian group. Most ominous was Twitter’s decision to ally itself with radical feminism by making Anita Sarkeesian a member of this advisory group. Sarkeesian’s non-profit group Feminist Frequency, formed in 2014, is a tax-exempt vehicle to promote the 32-year-old’s “gender theory” attacks on the videogame industry. . . .
All of that is preamble to explaining why my Twitter account @rsmccain was shut down Feb. 19, and how this resulted in a protest against Twitter’s policies, using the #FreeStacy hashtag. . . . When I attempted to get my Twitter account reinstated, I received a cryptic message that I had been “participating in targeted abuse,” although no evidence was offered to support this accusation. Who was targeted? What was the abuse? How did I participate? No one will say. In a statement to Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle, Twitter officials cited “privacy” to justify this silence as to the nature of my alleged offense against Trust and Safety.

Whose “privacy” was being protected by this silence? More than a decade later, we still don’t know. My suspension in February 2016 was the first foreshadowing of a wave of Twitter banishments that followed, ultimately including President Donald Trump himself. In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter (subsequently renamed X) and began reinstating formerly banned accounts. How many once-banned accounts were restored? Many thousands, as Kyle Barr reported at Gizmodo in December 2022:

Twitter owner Elon Musk’s goal for “general amnesty” towards banned accounts is in full swing. Since taking over, the multi-billionaire owner has given thousands of once-banned users access to their accounts once again. His extreme laissez faire-attitude has attracted some of Twitter’s worst characters back to the social network.
Just how many accounts once-suspended or banned accounts are now back on Twitter? Germany-based software developer Travis Brown has been tracking and publishing the unique Twitter IDs and screen names of banned accounts on a public Github list. Brown’s list has close to 12,000 accounts reinstated since Oct. 27. Since Nov. 8, there have been several hundred account reinstatements every day. On Nov. 21 in particular, there were close to 2,500 accounts allowed back. . . .
A cursory look at some of the once-suspended accounts include several promoting vaccine misinformation (a kind of misinformation that Musk doesn’t have much time for anymore), obvious spam accounts, profiles that share copyrighted material, and adult content creators. . . . Twitter re-verified neo-Nazis Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler as part of Musk’s ill-fated expansion of subscriptions on the social network. . . .
White nationalist Patrick Casey is back on Twitter even though he once ran a major group that advocated for a white ethnostate, Identity Europa, and coined the notorious slogan “you will not replace us.”
Other subjects given a second chance on Twitter include Andrew Anglin, a neo-Nazi who has been running from a $14 million judgement made back in 2019 for leading a doxxing and harassment campaign against Jewish Montana residents.

At the time this was happening, when formerly banned accounts were being reinstated at the pace of thousands per day, I also applied for reinstatement of @rsmccain and was turned cold. Since then, I have occasionally repeated my appeal — denied, denied, denied.

People widely considered the vilest scum of the earth had their accounts reinstated, yet Elon Musk would not restore @rsmccain. Why? He has never explained. And what is most frustrating to me is that not a single one of my many alleged “friends” in the conservative journalism community will write a single word of protest against the continuation of this banishment, nor will they ask Elon Musk to answer for it. Is it wrong for me to feel butt-hurt over this? “Never let em see you sweat” has always been my mantra, as I would not wish to give any of my enemies the satisfaction of knowing what actual harm they have inflicted on me, but what about the neglect of friends? Over many years, I have striven for collegiality, trying to do favors for friends whenever such an opportunity presented itself, and it wounds my pride that I should have to actually solicit help when I am the one in need. Everyone has known how grievous this Twitter ban was to me, and knowing this, wouldn’t they voluntarily act on my behalf, without my having to ask? Yet after the initial uproar in February 2016, it seems my injury was forgotten, though I still suffered.

Well, enough with my personal feelings, about which no one cares. When this crossed my mind Wednesday, I logged on and once again appealed the suspension of @rsmccain, then sent this email:

Dear Sirs:
While I am by no means certain that any human being is actually reading this, permit me to repeat what I just wrote in an appeal today for the reinstatement of my account (@rsmccain):

In February 2016, my account was banned. It made headlines at the time, e.g.:

https://thefederalist.com/2016/02/24/the-freestacy-twitter-exodus-has-begun/

There was no adequate explanation. I was informed that I had been “found to be violating … our rules around participating in targeted abuse,” although they never did tell me (a) who had been “targeted,” (b) how they were “abused,” or (c) how I had been “participating” in this alleged abuse.
No specifics were given, nor was any opportunity offered to remedy whatever may have caused this inexplicable decision. Despite repeated appeals by me since the site changed ownership, nothing has been done by the new management to rectify this unexplained suspension.
Isn’t it time, after more than a decade, to do the right thing?

After Mr. Musk purchased the site in 2022, I dared hope that he would act promptly to end the censorship regime that had preceded his ownership. I was heartened to see some other banned accounts restored (more than 12,000 it was reported), and yet my account remains suspended, which by implication suggests that I am a worse person than the “noted neo-Nazis, anti-semites, and more,” as Gizmodo said of the accounts restored in December 2022. While it has never been my habit to suggest litigation as a solution to disagreements, it occurs to me that the continuation of this suspension might be construed as defamatory in nature, and that every day that @rsmccain remains suspended, the defamatory implication is effectively repeated.
Having once again gone through the appeals process, and having reiterated my appeal by email, please inform me what else I can or should do to fix this unfortunate problem. I include my phone number, and would be pleased to discuss this with you at any time, as I desire ever to remain,
Your most humble and obedient servant,
Robert Stacy McCain
[ phone number redacted ]

Note the extreme courtesy of the closing. When I conclude a letter with the “humble and obedient servant” phrasing of a 19th-century gentleman, you know it’s serious. They may consider themselves given due notice.

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