Controversy Erupts as X Suspends Minnesota ‘Fraud’ Exposé Account

As the Minnesota “fraud” story emerged, X suspended the account at the core of the accusations against the state’s government and its governor, former Democratic nominee for vice president Tim Walz.

X briefly suspended the account that blew the whistle on reported "fraud" within the Minnesota government that directly implicated Gov. Walz. The social media platform reinstated the account after minor modifications and likely in response to widespread criticism condemning the censorship.

The account was named “Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees” when suspended. The bio read, “We are over 480 Minnesota State Stewards serving with pride & commitment for our people & state. We strive for a better Minnesota. Commentary account.” When the account returned, its username transformed to “Minnesota Staff Fraud Reporting Commentary.”

The account exposed details about hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged fraud that the state had directed from its coffers to a Somali immigrant-focused nonprofit. It also revealed how employees of the Minnesota government highlighted the reported fraud and Walz’s alleged complicity in it for years, facing retaliation in return.

The X account’s pinned post from April 2023 states, “Our original Twitter account was wrongfully closed due to the oppression of speech at DHS. We will continue to start new Twitter accounts to share evidence of corruption & wrongdoing at our agency with the public. We need corruption to stop. We will not be silenced. #nomorecorruption.”

After the account resurfaced, a post explained that the original account was established in October 2022 and permanently suspended in March 2023. The recently suspended account was created in April 2023. The account also highlighted the targeting of employees behind it for the account’s reporting, stating that “in the last 48 hours, we received numerous threats that left us wondering what we can safely post.”

According to X’s chatbot Grok, it is possible that the suspension occurred due to a violation of impersonation rules. The account’s handle was and still is @Minnesota_DHS. Meanwhile, the handle for the official X account belonging to the Minnesota Department of Human Services is @MinnesotaDHS, a very minor difference.

MRC Free Speech America reached out to X for a comment but received no response.