Musk suspends several journalist accounts on Twitter for 'doxxing'
2 Min Read
This comes after Jack Sweeney tracked his private jet and is suspected to have clambered onto the car's hood while his small child was inside.
-
Twitter's Elon Musk (Reuters)
Several high-profile journalists with accounts on Twitter who cover the platform's updates and those of its owner, Elon Musk, were suspended on Thursday for doxxing - publishing private information to the public such as personal info and location.
During a Twitter Space audio discussion, Musk clarified the reason behind the suspension campaign: “You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That's it,”
Same doxxing rules apply to “journalists” as to everyone else
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
This comes after Jack Sweeney, a Twitter account owner, tracked his private jet and after a "crazy stalker" clambered onto the car's hood while his small child was inside and prevented it from moving.
Anyone recognize this person or car? pic.twitter.com/2U0Eyx7iwl
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022
The twitter account for Mastodon, which is being described as a Twitter alternative, was also suspended on Thursday evening. Journalists were not able to tweet any links to Mastodon pages, but Mastodon was trending on Twitter.
'Endangering my family is not fine'
The suspended accounts include those of Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept, Steve Herman of Voice of America, and journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann, and Tony Webster.
Read next: US attorney quits Twitter, accuses Musk of promoting hate speech
According to Musk, these are the result of Twitter's new rules prohibiting tracking private jets, in response to a tweet from VP of venture capital firm Founders Fund Mike Solana. Solana pointed out that the now-suspended accounts had published links to track jets.
"Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not," Musk said in a tweet.
In his tweet, he continued: "my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service."
Initially, in early November, 'Chief Twit' said he wouldn't be banning the account tracking his private jet, but he suspended the account after a stalker followed the car that had his son 'X' in it.
