Musk Suspends Twitter Accounts Of More Than Two Dozen Journalists Without Warning Or Explanation — Because He Believes Strongly In Free Speech

Most of the suspended reporters had written stories on or commented on Twitter's content moderation policies.

Dec 16, 2022

When Twitter CEO Elon Musk restored the Twitter accounts for numerous neo-Nazis, he stated that the social media site would be a haven for “free speech”.

So . . . free speech for Nazis. Certain journalists and news reporters, however, will have to carefully watch what they say about Musk.

On Thursday, the accounts of more than two dozen journalists, most of whom have reported on Musk’s content moderation policies at Twitter, were suspended (possibly permanently). (But Mike Pillow is back.)

Elon Musk Abruptly Ditches Twitter Spaces Chat With Banned Reporters
Matt Young, The Daily Beast, December 16, 2022:

Elon Musk apparently hung up on a group of journalists during a Twitter Spaces event after attempting to discuss the banning of several high-profile accounts that had reported critically on him and his takeover of the platform.
Following its suspension of @ElonJet, the aptly named Twitter account tracking the activity of Elon Musk’s private jet via public information, the platform abruptly suspended the accounts of several journalists from CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post and more—all of whom had covered the account in one way or another.
The accounts, which were accused of engaging in “doxxing”—as Elon Musk described it—will receive a temporary seven-day suspension, he confirmed late Thursday night.
“Some time away from Twitter is good for the soul,” Musk said.
Liberal journalist Aaron Rupar, Ryan Mac of the Times, Drew Harwell of the Post and CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan were booted Thursday night. The accounts for Keith Olbermann, Twitter competitor site Mastodon, and Mashable’s Matt Binder were also suspended. More followed, including The Intercept’s Micah Lee and the anarchist news site, It’s Going Down. Flight tracker @absbexchange was also gone as well as reporter Steve Herman of Voice of America.
Freelance journalist Tony Webster was also chopped, posting the confirmation on Mastodon. “My Twitter account has been suspended,” he wrote alongside a screenshot. In a follow-up post he wrote: “I have not received any other explanation, nor identification of the rule supposedly violated.”
Rupar also told NBC News that he had “no idea” what prompted the suspension. . . .
Meanwhile, at least one politician quickly took note of the suspensions. Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) said in a Twitter post that her team met with Twitter Thursday and that “they told us that they’re not going to retaliate against independent journalists or researchers who publish criticisms of the platform. Less than 12 hours later, multiple technology reporters have been suspended.” She asked, “What’s the deal, @elonmusk?”

Life Among The Twitter Damned
Matt Stie, New York Magazine, December 16, 2022

Apparently, by linking to Elon Musk’s Jet on another website, [Aaron] Rupar had violated Twitter’s new rule banning users from sharing people’s “live” location — a rule Musk then broke by posting the license plate of someone he alleges was stalking him.
Rupar was not the only journalist booted: Ryan Mac at the New York Times, Drew Harwell at the Washington Post, Donie O’Sullivan at CNN, Micah Lee at the Intercept, Matt Binder at Mashable, and independent journalist Tony Webster, all of whom cover Twitter, were also permanently suspended, as well as Keith Olbermann. All eight had linked out to the Facebook page for Elon Musk’s Jet.
“It’s not like there was some mass purge,” said Binder, who found out he was banned after playing Lego Star Wars with his 7-year-old son. “These were definitely handpicked.”
Media outlets have taken the bans seriously. “Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses” the site, a CNN representative said. . . . On Thursday night, Twitter disabled its live-audio function Twitter Spaces after reporters Drew Harwell and Katie Notopoulos grilled Musk on the suspensions. . . .
In Twitter’s volatile Musk era — where accounts banned years ago are reinstated and new bans are sometimes overturned — it’s unclear if these suspensions will hold. After learning he was barred, Rupar said he found the contact of someone at Twitter who told him that the suspension was temporary and that the company is now determining how long his account will be offline.