SAN FRANCISCO – Elon Musk said late yesterday he would reinstate the Twitter accounts of several journalists who were suspended after he accused them of endangering his family.
Musk had drawn anger and warnings from the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) after suspending the accounts of several prominent journalists from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post.
“The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now,” the Twitter owner tweeted.
Musk carried out a Twitter poll asking whether he should restore the suspended accounts now or in a week’s time. Nearly 59% of the 3.69 million who took part said he should restore the accounts now.
Some of the suspended accounts appeared to have been reactivated, with former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeting again.
“I was pretty bummed about getting suspended initially but quickly realized it’d be fine because I’m blessed to have an amazing online community,” Rupar tweeted, thanking people for their support.
The latest controversy began when Musk on Wednesday suspended @elonjet, an account that tracked flights of his private plane.
Musk said the move was necessary after a car in Los Angeles carrying one of his children was followed by “a crazy stalker” and seemed to blame the tracking of his jet for the incident.
Some of the journalists had reported on the affair, including tweets linking to the suspended @elonjet account, which Musk said amounted to offering “assassination coordinates” against him and his family.
In a chat hosted live on Twitter, Musk had provided no evidence for his claim but told some of the suspended reporters that on Twitter “everyone’s going to be treated the same... they’re not special only because they’re a journalist.”
Pressed further on his allegations, Musk ended the conversation. Twitter Spaces, the feature where the chat took place, was then suspended.
Musk’s move to suspend the journalists’ accounts had drawn sharp criticism from media organisations, the EU and UN.
“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” EU commissioner Vera Jourova posted on Twitter, warning the influential platform could face hefty fines through European laws.
“Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” she added.
The spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called it a “dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse.”
Controversies
Twitter has lurched from one controversy to the next since Musk took control after paying US$44 billion (RM196.9 billion), mainly by selling shares in Tesla, his successful electric car company.
The billionaire’s talk of unfettered speech has scared off major advertisers and caught the attention of regulators.
Musk has reinstated the account of former United States president Donald Trump and lashed out against Anthony Fauci, the outgoing key advisor for the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic and a frequent target of vitriol in right-wing media.
CNN has reported that Twitter’s former head of trust and safety fled his home after baseless attacks on the platform’s content moderation, endorsed by Musk.
Meanwhile, a purge initiated by Musk at Twitter left more than half of its 7,500 employees out of work, and now many of them are taking the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon to court.
Musk at one point signaled he was going to war with Apple over the App Store, only to later tweet that it was a “misunderstanding”.
Market tracker Insider Intelligence forecast that Twitter would experience an exodus of users.
“There won’t be one catastrophic event that ends Twitter,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.
“Instead, users will start to leave the platform next year as they grow frustrated with technical issues and the proliferation of hateful or other unsavory content.” – AFP, December 17, 2022
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