{"id":23915,"date":"2022-12-16T02:54:46","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T02:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/16\/twitter-has-just-suspended-the-accounts-of-journalists-whove-been-covering-elon-musk\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T02:54:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T02:54:46","slug":"twitter-has-just-suspended-the-accounts-of-journalists-whove-been-covering-elon-musk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/16\/twitter-has-just-suspended-the-accounts-of-journalists-whove-been-covering-elon-musk\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter has just suspended the accounts of journalists who\u2019ve been covering Elon Musk"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Twitter Inc. today caused yet another controversy when several high-profile journalists said their accounts have been suspended.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not certain as yet why those accounts have gone down, although the connection between them was that they had each covered Twitter\u2019s new owner, the \u201cfree speech absolutist,\u201d Elon Musk. This comes just a day after Twitter took down accounts<\/a> that track the movement of private jets, one of them belonging to Musk.<\/p>\n

A list<\/a> has been compiled regarding which journalists have been booted from Twitter. It includes The New York Times\u2019 Ryan Mac, The Washington Post\u2019s Drew Harwell, The Intercept\u2019s Micha Lee, CNN\u2019s Donie O\u2019Sullivan, Mashable\u2019s Matt Binder, and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Tony Webster, and Keith Olbermann. None of them knows why their Twitter light went out, but it seems certain it has something to do with them writing about Musk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never posted anything Elon Jet related or that could violate the policy about disclosing locations,\u201d Aaron Rupar told CNN. \u201cUnless the policy is that you criticize Elon, and you get banned.\u201d He said Twitter hadn\u2019t explained what it was all about, only saying the ban was permanent.<\/p>\n

One theory is that it has something to do with the social network Mastodon, at least for some of the bans. Its Twitter account was also suspended, more than likely because it published the jet-tracking information that Musk had banned on Twitter. It seems some of the journalists who\u2019ve just been culled were telling their Twitter followers about the fact they could still track Musk on Mastodon.<\/p>\n

Lee admitted that before his account was banned, he\u2019d tried to post a link on Twitter to the Mastodon account @ElonJet. When that failed, he tried to post a screenshot of the link \u2013 admittedly not very wise. Musk might be sore about this since he says a car carrying his son to school was followed by a stalker the other day. Twitter now has the policy to ban live tracking of people, which is reasonable and, for the sake of safety, should have always been a matter of doxing \u2013 not allowed on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Still, Rupar thinks he was banned for nothing more than writing a critical article about Musk on Substack called \u201cElon Musk\u2019s reactionary populism<\/a>.\u201d It didn\u2019t say anything about Musk\u2019s whereabouts or leave links to discover that, although it was very critical and branded Musk guilty by his association with people such as Dave Chappelle and Ye.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusk is bloated with privilege and power,\u201d said the article. \u201cHe\u2019s every asshole who\u2019s every fired you. He\u2019s the guy who spends $500 on a bottle of wine while you can\u2019t afford groceries. What about that is supposed to be appealing to the public at large?\u201d<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s why Musk has banned the author from Twitter, his alleged ambition to make Twitter a center of free speech is certainly on shaky ground right now, although we will see what Twitter says about this suspension soon\u2026perhaps. Musk\u2019s actions aren\u2019t a good look without any transparency, which has rankled much of the press.<\/p>\n

\u201cI volunteer to write the next chapter of THE TWITTER FILES on how the decision was made to deactivate the accounts of a bunch of journalists that reported on Musk, wrote the Journalist Judd Legum. \u201cJust send me all the internal communications.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Jason Kint, the Chief Executive of Digital Content Next, warned, \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened here, but if @elonmusk doesn\u2019t fix this within the hour with an explanation by morning, I\u2019ll be on Capitol Hill tomorrow demanding that he be hauled in front of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo: Twitter<\/h5>\n
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