NYU professor gets locked out of his X account by Elon Musk, demands Zuckerberg-like fight

Free speech absolutist and owner/CTO of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk, is at it again. After it was revealed that X was slowing down certain new websites that were critical of him, a New York University professor has come out and claimed that he has been locked out of his X account, because he was in a podcast that was critical of him.

Scott Galloway, the NYU professor in question, says he was locked out of his account after Elon Musk felt that Kara Swisher’s podcast that he was a part of had “unfairly attacked” him.

Criticising Elon Musk’s shenanigans at X
Galloway shared on Threads that as of Tuesday, he had been locked out of his account for 17 days. He followed this up with another post stating, “A mutual friend reached out and said Elon feels ‘unfairly attacked’ by me and wants to meet. I declined. 2 days later I was locked out of ‘X.'”

Galloway has consistently criticized Musk, particularly after his increased involvement in X. Last year, he told Huffington Post that Musk displays a “total lack of grace” in his leadership at X and suggested that Musk has a “bit of a God complex.”

In a separate Threads post on Monday, Galloway hinted that he might have supported Musk if not for Musk’s outspoken opinions on X. “Elon would have been a legend… if he hadn’t started tweeting,” Galloway wrote.

Slamming Tesla for its range projections
He also commented on a Reuters investigation into Tesla vehicles’ driving range and took a jab at Musk’s efforts to turn Twitter into a super app. Galloway criticized Tesla for providing optimistic driving range projections to drivers, leaving some stranded, and contrasted it by saying, “BUT you should totally bank with X.”

In response, Musk called Galloway an “insufferable numbskull” and suggested that the best investment strategy would be to do the opposite of Galloway’s suggestions.

Musk, who claims to be a “free speech absolutist,” has a history of taking action against those who criticize him. He recently appeared to slow down links to news outlets and Twitter competitors on his platform, including The New York Times and Reuters. This led to slower load times for those links.

Throwing the gauntlet
Galloway seems to be adopting a similar approach by challenging Musk to a showdown in another Threads post. He wrote, “Lord Elon, After refusing to take a knee (meet), you banished me from the Twitter Hamlet—true story. I demand trial by combat! Don King has agreed to host a battle to the death before a Taylor Swift concert. If you agree, I shall get an MRI that reveals bone spurs. FREEDOM (speech)!”