The National Transportation Safety Board made a pro-Elon Musk announcement that took onlookers by storm.
The NTSB said over the weekend that it would only be announcing news about major aircraft accidents on one particular social media platform.
"For media covering the airplane crashes in Washington and Philadelphia—all NTSB updates about news conferences or other investigative information will be posted to this X account," the agency wrote. "We will not be distributing information via email."
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The news confused many X users, including notable voices.
Atlanta News First investigator Brendan Keefe said, "The NTSB is requiring a free press to join a private website run by a presidential appointee in order to access public information about the worst US air disaster in a generation."
Mother Jones editor Michael Mechanic chimed in, "This is a horses--- policy."
"You'd best create an NTSB account on Bluesky, because given Elon Musk's direct political involvement, X is no longer an ethical or appropriate venue for distributing agency information," the editor wrote.
A popular lawyer known as southpaw said, "This amounts to a federal subsidy of this platform—which is owned by the president’s biggest donor, who as it happens has made it into a gathering place for Nazis."
"It is a self-inflicted wound to the credibility and integrity of the NTSB, a once world class safety org," the attorney wrote.
One user with thousands of followers, Art Martin, plainly accused NTSB of "breaking the law."
"A government agency is not permitted to restrict its obligation to inform the public, by making it available only on a privately run platform," the account wrote.
Treasury and finance director Andrew Smolenski asked, "What about media and other providers that do not have an X account?"
"Forcing the use of a singular PRIVATE corporate platform seems a bit monopolistic. This is not right," Smolenski added.
Progressive commentator Brian Beutler, who writes "Off Message," had some advice from how to go forward:
"An aggressive litigant can get this enjoined Monday," he wrote on Saturday. "From there, make it hurt; make the Supreme Court say Republican presidents can privatize government communication on the platforms of their Nazi-aligned donors."
Political scientist and scholar Norman Ornstein simply added, "The grift is supreme."