Twitter Suspends Multiple Journalist Accounts

[Webster]

Twitter has suspended the accounts of Twitter competitor Mastodon and journalists Aaron Rupar, Ryan Mac, Donie O'Sullivan and Drew Harwell today, after suspending the Elon Musk flight tracker "Elonjet" and others yesterday. Get the latest on the new Twitter suspensions in our LIVE breaking news coverage.

Flight tracking account ADS-B exchange was also suspended today. In this interactive live stream, host Steve Lookner brings you the latest updates on the news that Twitter (now owned by Elon Musk) has suspended Mastodon,. Aaron Rupar, Elonjet and other flight trackers, and more, and he'll also read your comments and questions on the air!

 

[Webster]

GamingOnLinux 🐧🎮 (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image WOW. Elon Musk's Twitter straight-up banned the account for Mastodon. Just, wow.

mstdn.party

 

[Webster]

Elon Musk starts banning critical journalists from Twitter

The suspensions began on Thursday.

www.theverge.com

Twitter has suspended the accounts of several prominent reporters on Twitter, such as The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, The Intercept’s Micha Lee, Mashable’s Matt Binder, Aaron Rupar, Tony Webster, and potentially more. A list of the suspensions is being compiled by NBC’s Ben Collins.

Currently, it’s unclear why the bans are taking place. The reporters being banned largely cover technology, and most appear to have recently written stories on Elon Musk. “I have not received any communications from Twitter whatsoever, other than a notice at the top of my feed that I am permanently banned and in read-only mode,” said Rupar in an email to The Verge. “I have no idea what could have prompted this.”

 

[Webster]

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

Gotta' love censorship. Suppress free speech, attack everyone you hate while they're defenseless to fight back, put some undesirables on a registry...I wonder if this is following a pattern...?

 

[Webster]

Gotta' love censorship. Suppress free speech, attack everyone you hate while they're defenseless to fight back, put some undesirables on a registry...I wonder if this is following a pattern...?

By the way, Bellingcat blew to hell and back Elon Musk's Elmo's reasoning behind the Twitter bans....

 

[PGen98]

By the way, Bellingcat blew to hell and back Elon Musk's Elmo's reasoning behind the Twitter bans....

Yep, any tenuous crap they can use. Just stupid.

 

[Webster]

Hypocrite much, Elmo?

 

[Webster]

Yep, any tenuous crap they can use. Just stupid.

And knowing the Right-Wing Wurlitzer Machine, they'll blast out "OMG! Journalists doxxing Musk!" every second of the day....

 

[PGen98]

And knowing the Right-Wing Wurlitzer Machine, they'll blast out "OMG! Journalists doxxing Musk!" every second of the day....

I love that he's turning out to be exactly what everyone knew he would be. A right wing puppet doing their bidding and acting just like their idol and leader.

 

[KenDaGamer]

I'm gonna leave this right there on how I feel about this rich punk.

 

[MrDawn]

I thought he supported Freedom of Speech? Freedom of the Press is part of the first amendment. This is censorship, plain and simple. He lied.

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Twitter: suspended accounts 'were manually reviewed'
Twitter insisted on Friday that the company “manually reviewed” every account it suspended last night, ranging from prominent journalists from the New York Times, CNN and Washington Post, and a number of popular liberal commentators.

Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, made the claim in an email to Reuters, stating the manual review was on “any and all accounts” it said violated its new privacy policy by posting links to a Twitter account called ElonJet, which tracked Elon Musk‘s private jet using information in the public domain.

Musk, formerly the world’s richest man, who bought the social media platform for $44bn earlier this year, accused the journalists of posting “assassination coordinates” by publicizing the ElonJet account, which was suspended earlier. “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk tweeted.

He did clarify how he thought they had done so. And he hung up on a Twitter Spaces audio chat after clashing with some of the journalists he banned.

The suspension of the accounts late Thursday has prompted outrage on both sides of the Atlantic about Musk’s curbing of press freedoms. Also suspended were accounts run by liberal commentators Keith Olbermann and Aaron Rupar.

Irwin’s letter to Reuters offered little by way of further explanation. “I understand that the focus seems to be mainly on journalist accounts but we applied the policy equally to journalists and non-journalist accounts today,” she wrote.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the suspensions, which included its technology reporter Drew Harwell, were instigated at the “direction of Ella”.

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) While it’s been quiet from politicians in the US (so far) over Elon Musk’s suspension of prominent journalists’ accounts from Twitter, European leaders are not holding back, and are threatening sanctions against the social media giant.

“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” Věra Jourová, vice-president of the European Commission tweeted. “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct. @elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”

She did not specify what the sanctions could entail.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) compels companies using serving European web users to meet strict regulations in tackling manipulative algorithms, disinformation and other cyber harm.

Meanwhile, France’s industry minister Roland Lescure tweeted on Friday he would mothball his account. “Following the suspension of journalists’ accounts by @elonmusk, I am suspending all activity on @Twitter until further notice”, he wrote.

 

[Smokey]

ItS a PrIvAtE CoMpAnY HE cAn Do WHaT hE wAnTs. - Everyone when Elon didn't own twitter.

 

[KenDaGamer]

ItS a PrIvAtE CoMpAnY HE cAn Do WHaT hE wAnTs. - Everyone when Elon didn't own twitter.

 

[Webster]

Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz has been suspended by Twitter tonight, the latest in a series of Twitter suspensions of reporters under new owner Elon Musk. Get the latest on the Twitter suspension of Taylor Lorenz in our LIVE breaking news coverage.

According to Lorenz, the last post she made on Twitter tonight was post in which she asked Elon Musk for a comment (apparently for a story she is working on). Neither Twitter or Twitter's owner Elon Musk has said yet why Taylor Lorenz has been suspended. Lorenz said tonight she has been permanently suspended (i.e. banned from Twitter). In this interactive live stream, host Steve Lookner brings you the latest updates on Twitter suspending Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz, and he'll also read your comments and questions on the air!

 

[PGen98]

Free speech, but only so long as it aligns with my free speech. Typical nonsense.

 

[Webster]

Free speech, but only so long as it aligns with my free speech. Typical nonsense.

I suspect what Musk is trying to do - call me crazy here - is that he's trying to goad them into filing a lawsuit against him over the suspensions. If that happens, he figures he can use discovery to out every dirty secret they may have (which he could then "leak" to friendly right-wing sources).