Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk has recently disclosed his decision to reinstate the accounts of suspended journalists back on the platform following widespread criticism.
The Tesla billionaire took to Twitter to reveal this, which he wrote, “The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now.”
The people have spoken.
Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now. https://t.co/MFdXbEQFCe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2022
The suspended accounts include reporters from CNN, The New York Times, Washington Post, and other publications.
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The suspension of these high-profile journalists is reported to be followed by widespread criticisms from several users, journalism organizations, and advocacy groups from across the globe.
Musk’s action has been described as a violation of free speech, which he had earlier proposed to permit on the platform during his takeover of the company, as well as describing himself as a “free speech absolutist”.
The European Union (EU) Vice President for values and transparency Vera Jourova who was displeased with Musk’s action, stated that the news about the suspension of journalists was worrying.
She further disclosed that he crossed the line by failing to respect the fundamental rights of the suspended journalists.
She wrote, “News about the arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect for media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct. @elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”
News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct. @elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.
— V?ra Jourová (@VeraJourova) December 16, 2022
Also, a former editor at CNN and Storyful David Clinch called the suspensions an “obscene and absurd abuse of power”.
After the platform was called out for suspending only journalists, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, disclosed that the team at the company manually reviewed and suspended all accounts that violated the new privacy policy by posting direct links to the ElonJet account.
She said, “I understand that the focus seems to be mainly on journalist accounts, but we applied the policy equally to journalists and non-journalist accounts today.”
Also, in a recent Twitter space event, Musk disclosed that the affected journalists were not being treated differently to other citizens, noting that if any user doxx they will get suspended.
Recall that on Friday 2022, Musk suspended some high-profile journalists on Twitter for going against the platform’s doxxing rules by disclosing his real-time location, endangering the lives of his family.
The reporters are reported to have been covering the story of Twitter banning @ElonJet, an account that tweeted the whereabouts of the tech billionaire’s private jet using publicly available data.
Shortly after the suspension, Twitter updated its privacy policy to prohibit the sharing of live location information.