But there’s also a possibility that users are getting banned for other activity/content, not the public criticism. Perhaps that what the parent could be highlighting by weighing in with an anecdata.

Similarly, something recently happened with Richard Dawkins on FB, IIRC. His account was banned following unusual activity, but Dawkins publicly announced that he was banned for his stupid (and factually wrong) ideas about the sex/gender of one of the female Olympic boxers. It turns out his account was either directly phished or the account of a moderator was phished and his FB Page (not his account) was banned (pending account recovery and cleanup).

Guess what? That's the same case for the criminals that twitter is defending.

I regularly see criticism of elon by large accounts, >millions in followers.