Musk Elon get rid of the stans?

Elon Musk is the new owner of Twitter after his roughly $44 billion bid got accepted. He has polarized people with the purchase, with some saying it's a good thing he's taking charge of the mostly vitriol-filled platform, while others siding with the opposite view.

Now, Musk seems to have made one more enemy, or rather over tens of million enemies, with the latest rumor suggesting the new owner might be about to ban stan and spam accounts from the platform. This has enraged countless numbers of people who either run or are a part of the Twitter stan culture.

Elon Musk to Ban All Stan and Spam Accounts?

On April 21, 2022, Musk, through a Tweet, let everyone know his intention if his takeover succeeded. He wrote, "If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!"

He followed this with a "And authenticate all actual humans" in a reply tweet.

Following this, Benjamin Enfield of Now HipHop News on Twitter created a thread explaining how this tweet could mean Musk might have also included stan accounts in the mix of targeted spam accounts. He explained all the pros and cons of stan accounts on the platform.

"Elon Musk set to ban all stan & spam accounts if he buys twitter," Enfield wrote in the first tweet and followed that up by going into how stan accounts were a problem for artists.

Enfield gave an example of how Fifth Harmony stans boosted the musical group's social media presence through retweets and likes, but the group had low actual album sales numbers and couldn't sell out tours.

"Supporting artists via retweets isn’t supporting artists," Enfield said.

Further, Enfield also pointed out that while not all stans were toxic, many were racist and engaged in harassment and bullying. The tread itself was an example of this, as they revealed how many stan account tweets they had to report from the thread.

Elon Musk criticized by stans for his intentions to ban stan accounts from Twitter.

Elon Musk criticized by stans for his intentions to ban stan accounts from Twitter. (Photo: Instagram)

"Stans are not fans. Fans actually buy products & have jobs," opined Enfield. "Stans are kids on the internet who have issues."

They also said K-Pop superstar group BTS might flop in the coming years if this stan ban occurs.

Stans Upset over Elon Musk’s Intentions about Stan Twitter Bans

The first reply on the above thread was from a stan account, because why wouldn't it be? "Mid musk need to realize that we run twitter," the reply read.

Ironically, it was also a Musk stan account that made the comment.

Another person lashed out, saying, "we quite literally carry this bird app on our backs, go build another space [expletive] and leave us alone."

"wasn't he supposed to be buying it for the sole purpose of "free speech,"' another chimed in, "pretty anti-free speech to ban a group that makes up the majority of the active users on this site but ok."

"Him deleting the people that run this app," another one said, while a user pointed out how half the platform would disappear with the said ban.

After Enfleid pinpointed Fifth Harmony in his tweets, Harmonizers, the former girl band's fans, strongly defended the group. The fans claimed they supported Fifth Harmony online and offline.

This outpour of support prompted Lauren Jauregui to respond to the group's fans and the people who she termed "ppl tryna come for the harmonizers."

"good luck!" she wished the fans' enemies on the platform, implying Musk, and thanked everyone for their support.

Jauregui admitted that while there were toxic Twitter stans, such dedicated fans were also the building blocks of any artist on the internet. "I’m very grateful for the ppl who show up for art and people’s dreams like that. Very very grateful. Anyway! Love you!" she ended her thread.

The outrage against this potential deletion of stan Twitter continued elsewhere on the platform. People were asking Musk not to ban such stan accounts because many found it to be their second home and safe space.

Others said Musk was focusing on a much less important issue when there were things like bullying and racism to deal with on Twitter.

A few even started planning for an alternative if the ban did become a real thing. The majority's first choice seemed to be a return to Tumblr.