Elon Musk suspends journalists' Twitter accounts

Some journalists tweeted about Twitter's decision to ban the @ElonJet account, which tracked Musk's private jet flights, and about versions of this account hosted on other social networks.

Twitter did not provide explanations for the suspension of the journalists' accounts.

“Nothing says free speech more than suspending journalists who cover you,” said Sarah Reese Jones of the news and opinion website PoliticusUSA in response to a message about the suspensions.

Among the suspended accounts are those of reporters from CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as independent journalists.

According to NBCNews, an account on the social network Mastodon, a rival to Twitter, was also suspended.

On Wednesday, Musk tweeted that a vehicle in Los Angeles carrying one of his children was followed by “a crazy stalker” and hinted that he attributed the alleged incident to the tracking of his private jet. In the message, he stated that he had taken legal action against the person who operated the ElonJet account.

The Twitter account that tracked Musk's flights was suspended, despite promess from the businessman that he would not do anything in the name of freedom of expression.

“Well it looks like @ElonJet is suspended,” the account's creator, Jack Sweeney, tweeted on his personal account @JxckSweeney, which was also suspended a few minutes later.

Twitter said it has updated its policy to prohibit messages that, in most cases, reveal someone's real-time location.

Musk wrote that “any account that 'doxxes' real-time location information will be suspended because it is a physical security breach.”

Since taking control of Twitter, Musk has presented contradictory messages about what is and is not authorized on the platform.

Musk reactivated accounts that were suspended on the social network, including that of former American president Donald Trump.

But it also suspended rapper Kanye West's account after posting anti-Semitic messages.

And he rejected the return to Twitter of Alex Jones, founder of the far-right website InfoWars, who was ordered to pay $1,5 billion in damages for claiming that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook school was a “hoax.”

(With AFP)

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