Former UFC star Jake Shields has found himself at odds with X (formerly Twitter) after losing several account privileges, including monetization and verification features, leading to a public callout of platform owner Elon Musk.
Shields, a former Strikeforce champion who has transformed into a political commentator, took to X to voice his frustrations: “X has decided I’m not allowed to be monetized. X has decided I’m not allowed to have subscriptions. X has decided I’m not able to be verified. X has decided I’m not allowed to use more than 280 characters. When will X decide I’m not allowed on their free speech platform?”
The restrictions come as a significant shift for Shields, who previously praised Musk’s acquisition of the platform.
During an appearance on the Digital Social Hour Podcast with Sean Kelly, Shields had highlighted the positive changes under Musk’s ownership: “Before [Elon] bought it, I was badly shadowbanned. I could just tell like it was barely worth tweeting because nothing would ever go viral and there was like no growth for like a good year and a half.” He added, “Then Elon bought it – I put on half a million followers since Elon bought it.”
Fellow UFC veteran Derek Brunson expressed surprise at Shields’ situation, responding: “For what reason? I thought X was the wild Wild West. It’s still p*rn on this site….”
The controversy extends beyond platform privileges. Recently, Shields criticized Musk’s stance on immigration policies, particularly regarding H-1B visas. In response to Musk’s support for legal immigration, Shields stated: “By winning he means billionaires like him, because he’s able to pay American workers less. There are cases where bringing in a small number of immigrants can be beneficial but bringing in millions of engineers or construction workers isn’t it.”
Shields has recently faced additional platform-related challenges after hosting controversial figure Germar Rudolf on his podcast. The episode, which included historian Michael G. Vann, was removed from multiple platforms, including Spotify and YouTube, leading Shields to comment: “Spotify isn’t a free speech platform.”
But troubles with ‘censorship’ don’t just end with Shields, two of Shields’ most recent guests – the hosts of Fresh and fit podcasts as well as their business were also demonetized on January 1st.
Since retiring from professional competition in 2018, Shields has focused on coaching and podcast hosting, often discussing political and social issues on various platforms.
