The Kinks' Guitarist Dave Davies Begs Elon Musk to Stop Censoring the Band's Content

'We are just trying to promote our Kinks music,' he pleaded on the social media app.

The surviving members of English rock band The Kinks are getting ready to celebrate their 60th anniversary but Twitter's algorithm is putting a damper on the festivities.

Guitarist Dave Davies, along with his brother, Ray Davies, and Mick Avory, have hand-selected tracks to compile The Journey – Part 1, a two-disc compilation covering releases from 1964 to 1975 concept albums, including personal notes about each song, that releases next month on March 24. Later this year Part 2 will drop, and the trio also have a slew of events in the works to celebrate their sixth decade.

Unfortunately, Twitter appears to be trying to hinder their promotional efforts, flagging some tweets from Davies as at risk of containing "sensitive content."

The social media platform, now run by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, automatically flags content that it deems as potentially sensitive—which seems to mean content that is graphically violent or sexual in nature, based on their media policy—so now Dave is turning directly to Musk to stop the flags on his content, which seem to have been triggered by the algorithm simply because of the word "Kinks" in the band's name.

"Dear @elonmusk would @Twitter please stop putting warnings on everything from ‘the Kinks,’" he begged via the platform, explaining, "We are just trying to promote our Kinks music," going on to tag the band's account and use their anniversary hashtag, #thekinks60.

One fan replied that he'd tested the system out for himself, posting several tweets mentioning The Kinks and receiving a warning for each one.

Neither Musk nor Twitter seem to have addressed the issue, but Dave and several other fans have taken the opportunity to troll the algorithm,

When Stereogum, a music-focused publication, tweeted a giveaway offer for the upcoming album on vinyl, they censored the name, writing "The K*nks," to avoid being flagged.

Dave retweeted it, noting, "You mean the Kinks," and another fan responded, writing the band's name several times in a row.

"60 years later and #TheKinks are still causing Kontroversy! Iconic! #TheKinks60," Deviate Digitial, an entertainment agency, wrote.

It is worth noting that a user's account settings can affect whether or not they'll see sensitive content warnings, but it's certainly frustrating for Davies and his bandmates to have anyone deterred from seeing their innocent promotions.

“We’re just promoting the Kinks’ music, my music, my book, and we want to be able to do what we do. It’s that simple,” he told Rolling Stone about the issue, noting that he wasn't sure how much good his messages to Musk would do.

Dave isn't the only celebrity to request Twitter help directly from Musk, with Jimmy Fallon previously asking, likely jokingly, for his help resolving a death hoax hashtag, but the billionaire is a little busy banning parody accounts and dodging lawsuits from his employees, so we wouldn't be surprised if the requests remain ignored.