London – Self-proclaimed “absolutist of free speech” businessman Elon Musk lost patience with some journalists critical of the Twitter administration and suspended the accounts of at least nine journalists without prior notice on Thursday night (15) for alleged “doxxing”. ” is the act of sharing location information of people for malicious purposes.

Journalists, whose accounts were suspended, were among those who reported that the @Elonjet account was closed on Wednesday (14) after the car with the businessman’s son was the target of a chase.

“They posted my exact location in real time, basically posted the murder coordinates, in direct violation of Twitter’s (obvious) terms of service,” Musk wrote this morning, adding that accounts posting the location this morning will be suspended for seven days and will not be banned. , as first imagined.

Musk’s Suspended Twitter Accounts

banned 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 The Voice of America and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster.

Ever since they bought Twitter for US$44 billion in October, they’ve all been regularly critical of the entrepreneur’s footsteps.

They reported that they did not receive any explanation or scope of the penalty. Earlier this Friday (16), Elon Musk tweeted that accounts that practice doxxing would be suspended for seven days, but did not specify whether all.

Doxxing accounts get a temporary 7-day suspension

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 16 December 2022

Musk’s anger began on Wednesday, when the account of @Elonjet and author Jack Sweeney (19), who followed the businessman’s jet travels, was suspended after the follow-up in Los Angeles.

The businessman attributed the “following” to the disclosure of information about his journey.

Anyone recognize this person or car? pic.twitter.com/2U0Eyx7iwl

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 15 December 2022

The subject became news all over the world in a short time with the sharing of the link of the banned profile or the images related to the story.

However, the accounts of nine journalists who regularly write about Twitter were suspended without any notice or explanation.

Hours after his suspension, Elon Musk made the statement by participating in a discussion on Twitter Space with more than 30,000 listeners. this The latest rule change regarding accounts following private jets on TwitterIt was implemented on Wednesday.

But when one of the banned journalists managed to get on the air and confronted him, he quickly left. businessman said:

“You doxx, you’re suspended. End of date. This much.”

Earlier in the week, Twitter dissolved the Security Council, which consists of about 100 experts and representatives of non-governmental organizations, shortly before the meeting.

The new movements confirm that moderation decisions will be made by the entrepreneur according to his own vision. In recent weeks, accounts that have been banned in the past, such as Donald Trump’s, have been reactivated.

Also read | Twitter sells ‘blue seal’ of authenticity for $8 again and dissolves Security Council same day

Musk also seems uncomfortable with the competition. The Mastodon social network Twitter account has been suspended.

And according to American NBC, network journalists were unable to tweet links to Mastodon pages yesterday.

Reaction to Musk who suspended accounts

Some of the blocked reacted by tweeting the news that the account was closed, not the location of the plane on Twitter.

And that the @Elonjet link is no longer active as the profile was suspended on Wednesday, the day before the journalists’ accounts were suspended.

Matt Binder of tech news channel Mashable defended himself by saying he didn’t post a location but shared a screenshot of a post by journalist Donie O’Sullivan. The post showed a Statement from the Los Angeles Police Department, sent to various media outlets on Thursday.

A statement came from the agency that an investigation was launched. persecution case, but no criminal charges were filed.

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement expressing its concerns about the suspensions:

“If retaliation is confirmed, it would be a serious violation of journalists’ right to report without fear of retaliation.”

“The thoughtless and irrational suspension of so many reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is alarming but not surprising,” CNN said in a statement.

And he added that “Twitter’s growing instability and volatility should be an incredible concern for anyone using the platform.”

The New York Times called the suspensions “suspicious and unfortunate”