There was a whole lot of howling going on Friday after Elon Musk suspended the Twitter accounts of several journalists and pundits, accusing them of participating in doxing.
The journalists included The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, independent journalist Aaron Rupar, Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Matt Binder of Mashable, sports commentator Keith Olbermann, The Intercept’s Micah Lee and Voice of America’s Steve Herman, according to Axios.
“I don’t know what happened here but if [Elon Musk] doesn’t fix this within the hour with an explanation by morning, I’ll be on Capitol Hill tomorrow demanding that he be hauled in front of Congress,” Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, tweeted.
I don’t know what happened here but if @elonmusk doesn’t fix this within the hour with an explanation by morning, I’ll be on Capitol Hill tomorrow demanding that he be hauled in front of Congress. pic.twitter.com/8oTmLkbdzZ
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) December 16, 2022
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Olbermann, who used an alternative account to evade the ban, also fired back.
“Doubt you’ve heard but Musk banned me permanently from Twitter for NOT doing something he said WASN’T against the rules!”
“It was the baptism scene from The Godfather and Elon Muskleone”
LISTEN TO FRIDAY’S POST/SUSPENSION COUNTDOWN HERE and PLEASE RT! https://t.co/4Qp9MpgzQr pic.twitter.com/HiB8NYTKDV
— Keith Olbermann’s Dogs (@TomJumboGrumbo) December 16, 2022
The website Semafor reported that after issuing a public statement denouncing the bans, The New York Times privately asked its reporters not to fight with Musk on Twitter.
Should these journalists have been banned?
Yes: 96% (27 Votes)
No: 4% (1 Votes)
According to Semafor, CNN was flailing and floundering in its efforts to appeal Musk’s actions because its contacts at Twitter had either been fired or quit.
Some media outlets had already been trying to rein in reporters. Semafor reported that Ben Collins, who is seen on NBC and MSNBC, was told earlier this month month in an incident not related to doxing that his Musk coverage was not appropriate and was yanked off the air.
Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
If anyone posted real-time locations & addresses of NYT reporters, FBI would be investigating, there’d be hearings on Capitol Hill & Biden would give speeches about end of democracy!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
The doxing allegations appear to have started with the @ElonJet account, which tracked the movements of Musk’s private jet. The account was suspended on Wednesday. “My plane is actually not trackable without using non-public data,” Musk later claimed.
Musk also alleged that a “crazy stalker” blocked a car containing his young child.
Musk told a group of journalists on Thursday that they are subject to the same rules against doxing as any other Twitter user.
“Showing real-time information about somebody’s location is inappropriate, and I think everyone on this call would not like that to be done to them,” Musk said in a Twitter Spaces call.
BREAKING: @ElonMusk just hopped on Spaces with a group of journalists and informed them the same doxxing rules apply to them and they aren’t special pic.twitter.com/SaYFWxZVpJ
— Pillow Time Poso🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 16, 2022
“There is not going to be any distinction in the future between journalists — so-called journalists — and regular people. Everyone’s going to be treated the same,” he explained. “You’re not special because you’re a journalist. … You’re a citizen. So no special treatment. You dox, you get suspended. End of story.”
