As of Thursday evening (local time), Twitter had blocked the accounts of at least six prominent US journalists. The Washington Post reported that the closures came without warning. The United Nations then expressed its deep concern about the development of the online network under the new owner Musk. Now he rows back.
Reporters should not be silenced by the arbitrary suspension of accounts on a platform that claims to be a space for freedom of expression, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. The federal government also criticized the closures.
Twitter on Wednesday blocked an account that could be used to track CEO Elon Musk’s private jet. Some of the temporarily banned journalists had reported on it, as well as Musk’s statement that he and his family had been endangered by sharing location data.
Journalists should be subject to “different rules”.
In several tweets on Friday evening, Musk wrote that the same rules apply to journalists as to everyone else. He was referring to “doxxing,” which is the disclosure of an individual’s personal information, including information such as address. “You posted my real-time exact location, actually the coordinates for a murder,” Musk wrote. He spoke of a violation of Twitter’s terms of use.
Journalist Tony Webster, who was also affected by the block, wrote on Twitter after his unblock that there had been no “doxxing” – “even if an easily irritable, inexplicable oligarch said so”.
The online service has developed into an important communication platform in recent years: governments, authorities and politicians all over the world use Twitter for their PR work. Tech billionaire Musk took over Twitter in October and has been pushing his ideas through the online service ever since. (SDA)