The Propaganda FilesMusk's Twitter suspends journalists who covered him
Twitter suspended several journalists who cover Elon Musk, days after banning the @ElonJet account that tracked his plane. Musk said they had shared his real-time location. Press-freedom groups called it retaliatory.
The suspensions served Musk's personal interest against reporters covering him, not a political party.
What the record shows
Suspended accounts included Ryan Mac (New York Times), Donie O'Sullivan (CNN), Drew Harwell (Washington Post), Micah Lee (The Intercept), Matt Binder (Mashable), Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Linette Lopez (Business Insider). Twitter had just made sharing live location data a violation, and Musk said violators would be suspended for seven days. Rupar said he had linked to the jet tracker's Facebook page. The New York Times called Mac's suspension 'questionable and unfortunate.' The suspended journalists were later reinstated.
In their words
“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location”— Elon Musk, Twitter owner · source
“petty and vindictive”— Jameel Jaffer, Knight First Amendment Institute · source
Musk said a stalker had followed a car carrying one of his children, and that the policy applied to everyone; trust and safety head Ella Irwin said there were no exceptions for journalists.
Sources
- NPR via WLRN: Twitter suspends journalists who shared information about Musk's jethttps://www.wlrn.org/technology/2022-12-15/twitter-suspends-several-journalists-who-shared-information-about-musks-jet
- Semafor: Prominent tech journalists who cover Musk suspendedhttps://www.semafor.com/article/12/15/2022/prominent-tech-journalists-who-cover-elon-musk-suspended-from-twitter
- Axios: Musk's Twitter suspends journalists without noticehttps://www.axios.com/2022/12/16/elon-musk-twitter-free-speech-journalists-suspended
- The Bulwark: So much for Elon Musk, free speech warriorhttps://www.thebulwark.com/p/so-much-for-elon-musk-free-speech-warrior