Who Elon Musk likes to talk to on Twitter — including Catturd

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter roiled the social network, and elevated a slew of right-wing voices on the platform.

In his public tweets, Musk has shown a willingness to engage with accounts popular on the right that once were under constant threat of permanent suspension from the network.

One user, known only to his fans as “Catturd,” has also become a Musk favorite. The pro-Trump account is run anonymously and represented only by a cat wearing glasses.

“As of now, I’m still Shadowbanned, ghostbanned, searchbanned, and Twitter removed 1200 followers today – as usual. Nothing has changed – I’ll report again tomorrow.” Catturd said in a tweet on Oct. 27.

Musk replied, “I will be digging in more today.”

Catturd said he was unavailable for comment when The Post reached him.

Such new friends are a significant departure from Twitter’s last high-profile boss Jack Dorsey, a lefty known for palling around with Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson and Critical Race Theory guru Ibram X. Kendi — who Dorsey supported with a $10 million research grant.

Mike Cernovich, a right wing influencer and cancel culture pioneer who has engaged with Musk frequently on Twitter this year, said he believed the billionaire came to the platform to “blow off some steam” and was drawn to right-wingers for their ideological diversity.

“If you go on Twitter and you want to read news what do you get by reading any of the top 100 lefties? Message discipline, regime propaganda, here is why the orange man is bad and why Biden is the fittest 80 year old man ever,” Cernovich said. “They don’t pack a lot of punch and if you want something a little bit light-hearted you have to go to the right.”

“What is [New York magazine writer] Jonathan Chait offering the discourse? When is the last time you went to his account other than to laugh at him,” he added.

Since purchasing the social network and taking it private last month, Musk has said he agreed with claims by right-wing author Dinesh D’Souza that “censorship [on Twitter] has been deployed as a one-way operation against conservatives.”

Ian Miles Cheong, a Malaysia-based contributor to the right wing Rebel News, says he believes Musk was drawn to his “human level” thoughts and observations.

“I treat him like a human being,” Cheong said. “I feel people are being overly harsh on him. A lot of the time people have these weird demands on him like he’s some sort of robot.”

Over months of correspondence, Musk and Cheong have critiqued Black Lives Matter, and discussed the war in Ukraine. When Cheong told Musk to “stop appeasing the activists because they will stop at nothing to hurt Twitter regardless of what you do,” the billionaire responded, “you’re right.”

“I don’t think he’s a right winger. I think he’s a moderate. I think he wants to have a diversity of opinions,” Cheong said.

Cheong critics say he is a longtime web troll who has used his large following to inflame US culture wars. In 2020 he falsely accused a black man of being “number one suspect” in a shooting of two Los Angeles police officers. An ex-con, Deonte Lee Murray, was later charged with the crime.