Twitter blocks accounts of several American journalists

Those affected include employees of the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. The closures took place on Thursday evening (local time) without warning, the Washington Post wrote, for example.

A day earlier, Twitter had blocked an account that followed CEO Elon Musk’s private jet. Some of the now-suspended journalists have reportedly written about Musk’s comments that he and his family were in danger from sharing location data. Before being blocked, many of the journalists had tens of thousands of followers on the platform, the New York Times wrote.

Several US media reported that Twitter initially did not respond to requests for a direct statement. However, in several tweets on Friday night, Musk wrote that the same rules apply to journalists as to everyone else. He was referring to “doxxing,” which is the disclosure of someone’s personal documents, including information such as their address.

“You posted my real-time exact location, actually the coordinates for an assassination attempt,” Musk wrote, without providing details or evidence. Musk spoke of a violation of Twitter’s terms of use. It was initially unclear whether the accounts were permanently blocked.

“Today’s suspension of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including Ryan Mac of The New York Times, is questionable and regrettable,” newspaper spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said Thursday evening. Twitter gave no explanation for the move.

It is hoped that the bans will be lifted. “The impulsive and baseless suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising,” CNN wrote.

The Twitter account that followed Musk’s private jet was created by college student Jack Sweeney, who used an automated computer bot to analyze publicly available flight data. Musk had stated in a tweet on Wednesday evening that the deactivated bot account violated the internet platform’s user guidelines.

The Twitter boss said in November that he was so committed to freedom of expression that he allowed the account, even though it posed a risk to his safety.

(SDA)