Twitter suspends journalist who covered Elon Musk

Twitter on Thursday suspended the account of a journalist covering the social media platform and its new owner Elon Musk.

The company has not explained to the journalist why it deleted the account, removed the profile and deleted previous tweets. But Musk took to Twitter Thursday night to accuse journalists of sharing personal information about his whereabouts, describing it as “basically the coordinates of the assassination.” did not provide.

News reporter’s sudden outage follows Musk’s decision on Wednesday To permanently ban an account Automatically tracked private jet flights using publicly available data. This prompted Twitter to change its rules for all users to prohibit sharing someone else’s location without their consent.

Some of the reporters suspended Thursday night wrote about the new policy and the mask rationale for imposing it. It included his allegations about the stalking incident he said.

“The same doxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ to everyone else,” Musk tweeted on Thursday. “It’s perfectly fine to criticize me all day long, but you can’t expose your real-time location and put your family at risk.”

“Docsing” refers to the online disclosure of someone’s identity, address, or other personal information.

Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee called for the immediate reactivation of technology reporter Drew Harwell’s Twitter account. The suspension “directly undermines Elon Musk’s claim that she intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech,” Busby wrote. “Harwell was expelled without warning, process or explanation after his accurate report on the mask was made public.”

“The impulsive and unwarranted suspensions of many reporters, including CNN’s Donnie O’Sullivan, are concerning but not surprising,” CNN said in a statement.

“The increased instability and volatility on Twitter is of great concern to everyone who uses Twitter,” CNN said in a statement. To do.”

Another suspended journalist, Matt Binder of technology news outlet Mashable, said Thursday night that he was banned shortly after sharing a screenshot O’Sullivan had posted before the CNN reporter’s suspension.

Screenshots show statements the Los Angeles Police Department sent to multiple media outlets, including the Associated Press, on Thursday about how they are in contact with Musk’s agents about the alleged stalking, although no criminal reports have yet been released. Not submitted.

“In accordance with Twitter’s new terms, I did not share location data, nor did I share links to ElonJet or other location tracking accounts,” Binder said in an email. “I have been very critical of Mr. Musk, but I have never violated Twitter’s stated policy.”

Binder said the message he received while trying to access his Twitter account indicated his suspension was permanent. But Musk later responded to questions about former ESPN and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann’s suspension, suggesting the penalty would last for a week.

Late Thursday, Musk briefly joined a Twitter Spaces conference chat hosted by Buzzfeed journalist Kate Notopoulos. He reiterated claims that a Twitter-banned journalist had “exposed” him when he was reporting that his jet-tracking account was banned.

After being asked by The Post’s Drew Harwell if there was a connection between the stalking incident and the posting of Real Time Information, Musk said, “There is no special treatment for journalists.”

“You dock, you get suspended, end of story,” he added before abruptly signing out. Spaces abruptly ended just after 9 p.m.

“Sorry, I seem to have run out of space. The screen suddenly went blank on my side, kicking everyone out,” host Notopoulos tweeted at 9:14 p.m.

Another suspended reporter, Voice of America’s Steve Harman, wrote, “About other journalists suspended for tweeting about the activation of accounts linked to Elon Jett’s feed. I was tweeting,” he said, thinking he was banned.

Suspension Comes As Musk Makes Major Changes to Twitter Content ModerationHe attempted to claim that the platform had suppressed right-wing voices under its former leader through the release of handpicked company documents, called “Twitter files.”

He promised to take control of free speech and reinstated high-profile accounts that had previously broken Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct and harmful misinformation, but he also took away the “freedom of reach” from some accounts. said it curbs negativity and hate.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit that advocates for journalists around the world, said Thursday night it was concerned about the suspension.

“If confirmed as retaliation for their work, this would be a serious violation of the right of journalists to report the news without fear of retaliation,” the group said.