Twitter has suspended the accounts of several high-profile journalists who regularly report on the social media platform and its new chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk.
Musk, who bought Twitter at the end of October for $44 billion U.S., said the journalists were suspended for either tracking or reporting on the location of his private jet, letting the public know where he was at various times.
The accounts of 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 Voice of America, and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster were abruptly suspended by Twitter with no notice.
The Twitter account of Mastodon, a social media platform that competes with Twitter, has also been suspended.
Musk said the suspensions stemmed from the platform’s new rules banning private jet trackers, noting that the suspended accounts had each posted links to jet trackers on other websites.
“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but (tracking) my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk tweeted.
Musk added that the banned accounts posted “my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service.”
Musk later said that the journalist suspensions were temporary and would last seven days.
Twitter is now privately held following Elon Musk’s purchase of the company.
Tech Insider
