Elon Musk’s commitment to “free speech” is once again under scrutiny, after he banned journalists who are reporting on him.
On Thursday evening, several tech journalists’ accounts at CNN, the Washington Post, Mashable and the New York Times were abruptly suspended.
These journalists had all recently published pieces that brought into question the discrepancies in Musk’s commitment to “free speech” and the decision to ban an account that he personally found offensive.
The Twitter account allegedly disclosed information on the movements of Musk’s private jet.
However, the tech giant’s reaction seems questionable considering that the information was already in the public domain.
Several other Twitter accounts that have seemingly rubbed Musk the wrong way have also been banned. Twitter’s rival Mastodon – which some Twitter users have moved to since his takeover – and all accounts linked to it also seem to have been suspended. These accounts were allegedly suspended without notice.
According to a statement by the Washington Post, the suspension of their tech journalist Drew Harnell “undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech”.
Donie O’Sullivan, one of the journalists whose account was abruptly suspended, said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “Musk just seems to be stamping out accounts that he doesn’t like.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists said if it is confirmed that these suspensions are merely retaliation for journalistic work, it would be a “serious violation of journalists’ right to report the news without fear of reprisal”.
On Thursday night Musk tweeted: “Criticising me all day long totally fine but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not”.
Questioned about the bans in a Twitter spaces event, Musk said: “If you doxx, you get suspended. That’s it. End of story.”
Compiled by Anita Dangazele
Pictured above: Elon Musk
