Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists covering Elon Musk
LOS ANGELES: Several journalists covering Elon Musk were suspended from Twitter on Thursday, days after an account tracking the whereabouts of Musk’s private jet was banned from the platform.
Among the suspended accounts are Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Matt Binder of Mashable, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, political expert Keith Olbermann and Steve Herman of the royal-funded Voice of America, the Press Agency reported. Germany (dpa).
Harwell’s last post before his account was suspended was about Twitter terminating the account of one of its competitors, Mastodon, for posting a link to a version of its own @ElonJet account that tracked Musk’s aircraft, according to NBC News reporter Ben Collins.
Olbermann’s last rant was asking people to rewrite Harwell’s post word for word and link to an article by freelance journalist Aaron Rupar, whose account has also been suspended, after criticizing Musk for his “populist cosplay” while being one of the richest men in the world.
Mac via his new account wrote that he was given no warning or explanation for the suspension of his account.
“I am reporting on Twitter, Elon Musk and his company. And I will continue to do so,” he wrote. Collins confirmed in a tweet on the new account, @MacSilenced, is the real Mac.
The nine or so accounts suspended Thursday night were not the first to be terminated after the Musk scandal.
The previously suspended @ElonJet account was briefly reactivated and later removed despite Musk’s earlier promise to leave the account up.
“My commitment to free speech extends to not banning that account from following my plane, even though that would be a direct personal safety risk,” Musk said in his Nov. 6 tweet.
Musk, who believes in absolute freedom of speech, has promised to make major changes to the social media platform once he finalizes control of the company.
He criticized Twitter’s ban on certain types of speech and questioned whether the rules hurt democracy.
Last month, Twitter reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account that was suspended in January 2021 for his role in inciting violent riots at the US Capitol.
Under Musk, the company also restored the accounts of other controversial users, including conservative Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson and Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
