Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) doubled down on an unfounded conspiracy theory Thursday afternoon after Twitter CEO Elon Musk mocked her complaints about having to pay $8 per month for premium services on the platform.
Ocasio-Cortez claimed in a tweet Wednesday night that her notifications on Twitter stopped working after Musk responded to her criticisms as she implied, without evidence, that Musk personally intervened to mess with her account.
“Also my Twitter mentions/notifications conveniently aren’t working tonight, so I was informed via text that I seem to have gotten under a certain billionaire’s skin,” she claimed. “Just a reminder that money will never buy your way out of insecurity, folks.”
Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on those claims in a video she posted to Instagram, saying, “I was at a community event in the Bronx in Coop city, and when I get home, I see a text from my team saying, ‘Hey let me know if you need any help with this Elon stuff.’”
“And I was like ‘What?’ So I pulled my Twitter app, and it’s like, gone. Like, when you pull up your mentions and stuff, it’s just like literally, it’s a blank screen,” she continued. “Totally gone. And I was like, ‘Hmm, that’s weird.’ So, it turns out we got under a certain little billionaire’s skin.”
.@AOC accuses @elonmusk of censoring her on twitter. pic.twitter.com/yGEAckNEK5
— John Gage (@johnrobertgage) November 3, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted out a screenshot of what she claims she saw on her phone last night.
“Yo @elonmusk while I have your attention, why should people pay $8 just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like?” she claimed. “This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday. What’s good? Doesn’t seem very free speechy to me.”
Many Twitter users who use the Twitter app run into the screen that Ocasio-Cortez posted from time-to-time due to being in an area with poor internet service. There is zero evidence suggesting anything nefarious happened.
Yo @elonmusk while I have your attention, why should people pay $8 just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like?
This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday. What’s good? Doesn’t seem very free speechy to me 🤔 pic.twitter.com/e3hcZ7T9up
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022
AOC’s initial complaint earlier this week came after Musk said that he would charge users $8 per month for a variety of features, which has sparked a lot of backlash from across the political spectrum for a variety of reasons.
“Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan,” AOC tweeted at the start of the week.
Musk responded, “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.”
Musk also responded with a screenshot of a hoodie that Ocasio-Cortez sells online for $58.