Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently wrote about its new owner Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that rules banning the publishing of personal information applied to all, including journalists.
The suspensions come a day after Twitter
changed its policies around accounts that track private jets, including one
owned by Elon Musk.
The accounts of Ryan Mac of The New York
Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt
Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept, Steve Herman of Voice of
America and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony
Webster had all been suspended as of Thursday evening.
The Twitter account for Mastodon, a
platform billed as a Twitter alternative, was also suspended early Thursday
evening. Twitter accounts operated by NBC News journalists were unable to tweet
any link to Mastodon pages. Mastodon was, however, trending on Twitter.
Musk indicated that the suspensions stemmed
from the platform's new rules banning private jet trackers, responding to a
tweet from Mike Solana, vice president of venture capital firm Founders Fund,
who noted that the suspended accounts had posted links to jet trackers on other
websites.
"Criticizing me all day long is
totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is
not," he added in another tweet.
Musk later tweeted that the accounts banned
Thursday posted "my exact real-time location, basically assassination
coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service,"
though NBC News was unable to verify that allegation.
Musk later added that the suspensions would
last seven days.
In early November, shortly after taking
control of Twitter, Musk tweeted that he would not ban the account that tracked
his jet.
Before he was suspended, Lee attempted to
tweet out a link to the Mastodon account that tracked Musk's jet but was unable
to and instead tweeted a screenshot, Lee said by text message.
Rupar wrote on Substack that his account
was permanently suspended but that he had no other information.
"I haven't heard anything from Twitter
at all," he wrote.
He noted that he had tweeted a link
Wednesday to a Facebook page that tracked Musk's jet.
Binder, a tech reporter at Mashable, said
he was suspended after tweeting a screenshot from another suspended reporter,
CNN's O'Sullivan, of an LAPD statement.
"I've been on it since 2008. I never
got so much as a slap on the wrist because I always follow the rules,"
Binder said. "It's not hard to do when you know what the rules are."
Binder said his account notified him that
he is permanently suspended.
"This is the very stuff that he's
criticized the previous Twitter of doing," Binder said of Musk
Binder did appear to find a loophole in
Twitter's suspension, joining an audio discussion on Twitter Spaces with other
journalists Thursday night. Harwell later also joined.
"I'm breaking the law in ways that
have never been broken before," Binder joked.
O'Sullivan said Thursday that all those
journalists who were suspended with him were people who cover Musk.
"As we saw with the jet tracker last
night, Musk seems to be just stamping out accounts that he doesn't like,"
O'Sullivan said on CNN.
A spokesperson for the network said the
suspensions were "impulsive and unjustified" — but not surprising.
"Twitter's increasing instability and
volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter,"
the network said in a statement. "We have asked Twitter for an explanation,
and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response."
Sally Buzbee, executive editor of The
Washington Post, said that Harwell's Twitter suspension "directly
undermines Elon Musk's claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform
dedicated to free speech."
The journalist was "banished from
Twitter without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of
his accurate reporting about Musk" and should be reinstated immediately,
Buzbee said in a statement Thursday night.
A spokesperson for The New York Times who
called the suspensions questionable and unfortunate said that no explanation
was provided to Mac or the news organization about the ban.
Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., tweeted that she
had met with Twitter representatives on Thursday who said the company would not
take action against journalists who criticize the platform.
"Less than 12 hours later, multiple
technology reporters have been suspended. What's the deal, @elonmusk?"
Trahan added.
The suspensions come as Musk has backtracked
on his promise that he would run Twitter as a free speech absolutist,
reinstating accounts associated with the QAnon movement and other far-right
groups while banning others.
Internally, he has removed critics of his
policies from the company.
The suspensions add to what has been a
tumultuous couple of days for Twitter after the company first suspended the
account that tracked Musk's jet.
Musk appeared to threaten legal action
against its creator, Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old Florida college student, after
Musk claimed a "stalker" confronted a car carrying his child in Los
Angeles on Tuesday.
Musk provided no proof that Sweeney or his
account was involved. He did not provide a time or location in the sprawling
metropolitan area where the claimed incident occurred.
Sweeney told NBC News on Wednesday that he
hasn't received any notification of legal action, and the last time his bot
tweeted anything was Dec. 12, "which is not last night, so I don't get how
that's connected."
Same doxxing rules apply to “journalists” as to everyone else
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
The Los Angeles Police Department said
Thursday that no police reports had been filed.
"LAPD's Threat Management Unit is
aware of the situation and tweet by Elon Musk and is in contact with his
representatives and security team. No crime reports have been filed yet,"
Officer Lizeth Loeni, a police public information officer, said in a statement
Thursday evening.
There are other law enforcement departments
that also cover parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
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