Twitter restricts accounts of journalists that cover Elon Musk

• More than a dozen journalists’ Twitter accounts suspended on Thursday.
• Suspension of the accounts was not explained by Twitter.
• Some tweeted about @ElonJet, which followed Elon Musk’s activities.

More than a dozen journalists’ Twitter accounts were suspended on Thursday for writing about the company and its new owner Elon Musk.

Since taking over the firm, which has seen employment decimated and sponsors leave, Musk has stirred up controversy by attempting to silence journalists at Twitter while claiming to be a champion of free speech.

A few of the journalists had been tweeting over the deletion by Twitter of the @ElonJet account, which followed the movements of billionaire Musk’s private jet, as well as accounts that were housed on other social media platforms.

The suspension of the reporters’ accounts was not explained by Twitter.

“Nothing says free speech like suspending journalists who cover you,” Sarah Reese Jones of news commentary website said in a tweeted response to posts about the suspensions.

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Journalists who cover Elon Musk have been suspended on Twitter tonight: @Donie O’Sullivan from CNN, Aaron Rupar and the Washington Post’s @drewharwell.

Rupar tells me he has “no idea” why it happened.

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) December 16, 2022

In a statement, The reputable website said it also wanted answers from Twitter regarding the “questionable” suspension of journalists.

“I have no idea what rules I purportedly broke,” independent journalist Aaron Rupar, whose Twitter account was suspended, wrote in a Substack post.

“I haven’t heard anything from Twitter at all.”

Late on Thursday, Musk tweeted: “If someone posted real-time whereabouts & addresses of NYT reporters, FBI would be investigating, there’d be hearings on Capitol Hill & Biden would give speeches about end of democracy!” Musk seems to be alluding to the suspension of the reporters’ accounts.

Unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022

Musk appeared to blame the tracking of his jet for this alleged incident in a tweet he posted on Wednesday, alleging that a car carrying one of his children in Los Angeles was being followed by “a psychotic stalker.” He said in the tweet that legal action was being launched against the owner of ElonJet.

Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.

Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022

Despite the fact that the entrepreneur has claimed to be an absolute believer in free speech, Musk’s private jet’s Twitter account that monitored its trips was deleted on Wednesday.

Later, Twitter announced that it has changed its policy to generally forbid tweets from revealing a person’s location in real time.

After acquiring Twitter in a $44 billion agreement, Musk made it known that he would not touch @ElonJet as part of his commitment to free expression on the network.

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