Elon Musk shamed for protecting an alt-right cartoonist while letting transphobia flourish on X

Trans activists are calling out Elon Musk for protecting the identity of a Nazi cartoonist on X while allowing transphobia to run rampant on the site.

After some liberals reportedly doxxed Hans Kristian Graebener – who they believe to be the face behind an anonymous right-wing cartoonist who uses the name Stonetoss on social media and spreads racist, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ content – Musk answered calls to censor any accounts that named Graebener.

Related:

The GOP is using lies to defund local LGBTQ+ centers. They’re treating our lives like a game.

It’s time we play harder.

Trans activists called out Musk for allowing the endless abuse that has been hurled at them on the platform while protecting Graebener for being one of the folks perpetuating that abuse.

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“Rather wild how Nazis can deadname and post private info of trans people on this platform but if you post the name of a Nazi cartoonist you will get banned,” wrote activist and journalist Erin Reed. “This site is cooked.”

Rather wild how Nazis can deadname and post private info of trans people on this platform but if you post the name of a Nazi cartoonist you will get banned.

This site is cooked.

— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) March 16, 2024

Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director for Media Matters, lamented that “people keep getting suspended for sharing the name of a nazi comic strip writer while my birth name gets posted all the time by people trying to humiliate me. Really makes you think about who the rules protect but don’t bind and who the rules bind but don’t protect.”

People keep getting suspended for sharing the name of a nazi comic strip writer while my birth name gets posted all the time by people trying to humiliate me. Really makes you think about who the rules protect but don’t bind and who the rules bind but don’t protect.

— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) March 15, 2024

Trans activist and Harvard CyberLaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo’s account remains locked as of March 18th due to her refusal to stop naming Graebener. Searching for her on X reveals she has changed her name to “Stonetoss is Hans Kristian Graebner,” so even when the account is censored folks can still see it.

Screenshots of Caraballo’s posts on Boing Boing show her discussing that she “just got locked out but won my appeal by saying I was targeted by antifa for mass reporting for my right wing beliefs.”

“The Twitter moderation system is so broken,” she added.

Comedy news duo The Serfs also called out Musk for “banning anyone who publishes publicly available information on Stonetoss…while liking the far right deadnaming or doxxing LGBTQ+ accounts.”

Elon Musk is banning anyone who publishes the publicly available information on Stonetoss (Know Your Meme and Daily Kos) while liking the far right deadnaming or doxxing LGBTQ+ accounts.

Deadname and attack trans people? "Wow"
Tweet about a neo nazi cartoonist? Account suspended pic.twitter.com/iHhhlyAcAD

— The Serfs (@theserfstv) March 15, 2024

In the past, Musk has claimed to be a “free speech absolutist,” which has allowed hate speech to essentially go unchecked on X. Since Musk’s takeover, studies have found that anti-LGBTQ+ hate on the site has reached unprecedented heights. Musk himself has made it clear he’s a virulent transphobe as well. Last year, he let it be known that he regards the terms “cis” and “cisgender” as slurs.

Among many other anti-trans comments, Musk has written that “Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult” should be imprisoned, further perpetuating false narratives about gender-affirming care for youth, which does not cause sterility and is reversible.