Twitter, on Thursday, December 15, suspended the accounts of several journalists who have been covering the social media platform and its owner, Elon Musk. Journalists whose accounts were suspended were working for notable media outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times, and CNN among others. According to The Hindu, the social media company has not offered an explanation on why the accounts of these journalists were suspended.
The sudden suspension of these accounts comes days after Musk suspended an account named ElonJet that shared real time data of the whereabouts of his private jet using publicly available information. According to The Guardian, the journalists whose accounts were suspended had written and/or shared articles regarding the suspension of the account that shared Musk’s private jet data. The articles also highlighted the contradiction between Musk’s commitment to ‘free speech’ and him suspending an account because he did not like it.
In a statement, The Washington Post said that the suspension of their reporter’s account “undermines” Elon Musk’s commitment to running Twitter as a platform for free speech. A statement issued by CNN said that Twitter’s rising “instability and volatility” should concern everyone who uses the platform.
Responding to the criticism, in a series of tweets, Musk wrote how “doxxing” (publishing private information about an individual on the internet without their consent) is harmful. He said, “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.” He further added that the same rules apply to journalists as well. However, as The Guardian notes, Musk did not clarify whether the journalists whose accounts were suspended shared any private information about him. The Guardian also mentioned that the articles that these journalists had written and shared did not include any information about his real-time location or information about his family members but rather about the account ElonJet.