- Simon Read y Max Matza
- BBC News, Washington
image source, Archyde.com
The Twitter accounts of several prominent journalists covering the news regarding the company’s owner, Elon Musk, have been abruptly suspended.
reporters of the New York Times, CNN y el Washington Post They are among those who had their accounts blocked Thursday night.
A Twitter spokeswoman told the technology website The Verge that the suspension was related to the live exchange of location data.
The decision came following Musk announced that he is suing the owner of a profile that tracks his private plane.
The list of blocked journalists also includes Micha Lee of The InterceptMatt Binder de Mashable and freelance reporters Aaron Rupar and Tony Webster.
Mashable is a popular internet news blog, where Matt Binder is a reporter.
A spokesperson for The New York Times (NYT) called the suspensions “questionable and unfortunate” and said neither the newspaper nor reporter Ryan Mac received any explanation for the move.
CNN said the “suspension impulsive and unjustified from various reporters…it’s worrisome but not surprising.”
The outlet has asked Twitter for an explanation and stated that will “reevaluate” your relationship con la red social “depending on that answer.”
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, whose account was among those suspended, said the move was relevant because of the “potential impact” it might have on journalists, particularly those that cover Musk’s other companies, such as Tesla, the electric car maker.
The international reaction
Melissa Fleming, UN assistant secretary general for global communications, said she was “deeply troubled” because journalists’ accounts were being “arbitrarily” suspended on Twitter.“Freedom of the press is not a toy”, said. “A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight once morest harmful disinformation.” Earlier this Friday, European Union Commissioner Vera Jourova threatened Twitter with sanctions under the new Europe’s Digital Services Act, which he said requires “respect for press freedom and fundamental rights.” “Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” he added.
real time location
Musk hasn’t commented directly on the suspensions, but tweeted that “bashing me all day is fine but cheating regarding my location in real time and endangering my family will not“.
image source, Getty Images
Elon Musk’s private jet can be tracked through public information.
He added that the accounts involved in doxxingthat is, in the disclosure of private information regarding people online, they would receive a temporary suspension of seven days.
“Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as everyone else,” he tweeted.
“They published my exact location in real time, basically coordinates for a murder, and this is (obviously) a direct violation of Twitter’s terms of service.”
“If someone published real-time locations and addresses of reporters from the NOWthe FBI would be investigatingthere would be hearings on Capitol Hill and Biden would give speeches on the end of democracy.”
The tech mogul has set up a poll asking whether he should return the accounts “now” or “in seven days”, suggesting the decision might be reversed sooner rather than later.
Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told The Verge that the suspensions are related to a new rule, introduced Wednesday, which prohibits “live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to third-party travel route URLs.”
image source, Getty Images
“I can confirm, without commenting on specific accounts, that we will suspend any account that violates our privacy policies and puts other users at risk,” Irwin told the outlet.
“we don’t do exceptions of this policy to journalists nor to any other account”.
When Musk completed the purchase of the platform in October, he addressed potential advertisers in a tweet saying he was acquiring Twitter because he wanted to “help humanity” and “help civilization have a digital city.”
live chat
Musk spoke to reporters in Twitter Spacesthe application of the social network that allows live audio conversations.
His brief appearance generated an audience of 30,000 people, but following answering a few questions regarding the suspension, he left and Twitter Spaces appears to have since been discontinued.
On Wednesday, Twitter shut down the @ElonJet account, as well as other accounts that used publicly available information. to track your private plane.
@ElonJet owner Jack Sweeney, 20, also had his personal account blocked.
image source, Getty Images
Since then, Musk promised to take legal action once morest him, as well as once morest “organizations that supported the harm to my family.”
Musk said a “crazy stalker” had used live location sharing to find and board a vehicle carrying his children in Los Angeles.
twitter too suspended the official account ofl software Mastodonwhich has emerged as an alternative to Twitter since Musk bought it for $44 billion in October.
It happened following Mastodon used Twitter to promote Sweeney’s new account on Thursday, according to the New York Times.
Los links to individual Mastodon accounts they also seemed to be blocked.
An error message notified users that links to Mastodon had been “identified” as “potentially harmful” by Twitter or its partners.
Analysis by Zoe Kleinman, technology editor
At the center of it all is a father furious that his private jet’s location data was shared, which he says led to a security incident involving his young son X.
The Twitter feed that started it all was collecting publicly available flight data. Not very decent, perhaps, but not illegal. Musk’s fury has spilled over to journalists who he says also shared his location. But this is a fundamentally flawed approach to moderation. I bet many of us wish we might suspend or ban social media accounts that post content we don’t like. This isn’t the first time Elon Musk has taken a very personal approach to content moderation. He refused to allow Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back on Twitter because he had used the deaths of children to advance his career. He cited the loss of his own son, Alexander, at 10 weeks. He has also suspended accounts that impersonated him. Crucially, Elon Musk has shot down his much-vaunted commitment to “free speech.” It seems that the message is, rather, freedom of expression as long as it does not bother you personally
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