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December 15, 2022 Twitter suspensions

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On December 15, 2022, Twitter suspended the accounts of nine journalists in an event dubbed the "Thursday Night Massacre".[1][2] The journalists, who covered the social media company and its owner, Elon Musk, were all suspended without warning; Musk later said they had violated a policy on doxxing. The suspended journalists included reporters Keith Olbermann, Steven L. Herman, and Donie O'Sullivan, and journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and The Intercept.[3][4][5][6] The suspensions were initially described as permanent,[3][4][6] but some of the accounts were reinstated after Musk conducted a Twitter poll.[7][2][8]

Although the journalists were not initially provided specific reasons for the ban,[3] Twitter and Musk later stated it was the result of doxxing, and due to violations of Twitter's new rules prohibiting accounts from sharing real-time flight information of private jets.[3][4][9] That rule was created on December 14, 2022, one day before the suspensions, and was reportedly in response to the @ElonJet account, which tracks Musk's private jet. That account and other flight tracking accounts were suspended from Twitter on December 14, but continued operating on other platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Truth Social, and Mastodon.[4][10][11] According to Musk, a stalker followed and climbed on the hood of a vehicle carrying his young child.[3]

Several of the suspended journalists said they had not violated the rule, and while some included links to @ElonJet in their articles or had reported about the account, this account was already suspended and not providing any information at this time.[3][5][6] The Twitter account of Mastodon – a rival social-media platform – was also suspended on December 15 after linking to @ElonJet on a Mastodon server. Users were unable to share Mastodon links from numerous servers in their tweets, with such links labeled as "potentially harmful" and containing "malware".[3][4][6][12]

Musk wrote of the suspensions that "same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else"[3][13] and "you doxx, you get suspended. End of story."[14][4][5] The account suspensions drew criticism from several media outlets and international representatives,[3][14] some of which said the actions undermined Musk's repeated claims of supporting "free speech" on Twitter.[3] The suspensions were condemned by representatives of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, the European Union, the European Commission, and others.[14][15]

On December 16, after running two Twitter polls asking how long the accounts should remain suspended for, Musk tweeted: "The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now."[7][2]

Background[edit]

Further information: Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

Business magnate Elon Musk purchased the social media company Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, 2022, following a lengthy process that began when Musk made the initial purchase offer on April 14, 2022, then later rescinded on the deal after it was accepted. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk to compel him to honor his original offer, and although Musk had intended to fight the lawsuit in court, he reversed course and announced he would move forward with the acquisition.[16][17] Upon acquiring Twitter, Musk fired several top executives,[18] laid off half of the company's workforce,[16] and proposed changes to the platform, which included combatting spambot accounts and open-sourcing Twitter's algorithms.[17]

One of Musk's primary pledges upon acquiring Twitter was the promotion of free speech. He had previously complained that Twitter had become too restrictive and censorious, particularly toward users holding politically conservative viewpoints, and said the platform would allow all legally permissible speech.[3][14][13] He has described himself as a "free speech absolutist".[14][1] Acting from this conviction, Musk restored several accounts that had been permanently suspended before his acquisition of the company.[3] Among them was former U.S. President Donald Trump, whose account @realDonaldTrump had been banned for tweets that allegedly helped incite the January 6 United States Capitol attack.[3][13]

Elon Musk via Twitter
@elonmusk

My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk

November 6, 2022[19]

Prior to the Twitter account suspensions of December 14 and 15, 2022, Musk was outspoken about his concerns regarding accounts that tracked his private jet.[4] Specifically, he criticized the Internet bot account @ElonJet, which used publicly-available flight data to track trips taken by Musk's private plane. The account, which was started by a college student named Jack Sweeney,[5][11][10][20] had more than 500,000 followers as of December 2022.[9][11][20] Sweeney also ran a version of the bot on the social networking platform Instagram.[20] In January 2022, before Musk had purchased Twitter, he privately offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account. Sweeney rejected the offer and instead asked for $50,000, to which Musk did not agree.[11][13][20] After Musk purchased Twitter, Sweeney cited screenshots provided by a Twitter employee, indicating the company limited the reach of the @ElonJet account, though he said those restrictions were later removed.[11][20] In November 2022, Musk publicly stated that he would not ban @ElonJet, despite claiming the account "is a direct personal safety risk", because of his "commitment to free speech",[3][14][4][11][20] which Musk said included "not banning the account following my plane".[6][9][10][13]

Account suspensions[edit]

Suspension of flight-tracking accounts[edit]

On December 14, 2022, a new Twitter rule was created, banning accounts that tracked the location and movement of private jets.[4] Specifically, Twitter's "private information and media policy" was modified to include a clause prohibiting the sharing of live location data, stating "we will remove any tweets or accounts that share someone's live location".[10][11] CNN reporter Donie O'Sullivan wrote that the new rules "appeared to be designed specifically to justify the removal of the jet-tracking account".[11] Twitter's official @TwitterSafety account issued messages on December 14 about the policy change, writing that they would remove tweets that posted live location information and suspend accounts specifically dedicated to doing so. It clarified that users were allowed to share their own live location and the "historical" location of someone else, meaning "not same-day" information.[10] Musk himself also tweeted about the new policy on December 14, writing:[13][11]

The same day the new rule was implemented, Twitter suspended the @ElonJet account, as well as the personal account of Jack Sweeney (@JxckSweeney), the creator of @ElonJet.[3][9][11][20] Other accounts dedicated to tracking private airplanes were also suspended,[9][10] including some that followed the planes of other billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. Some of those additional accounts had also been operated by Sweeney.[9][10] Sweeney defended his accounts, telling NBC News: "All I'm doing is taking their data and putting it on Twitter. There's nothing I'm doing wrong, and I didn't mean any harm."[9]

In another tweet written on December 14, Musk said that a car carrying one of his children had been followed by a "crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood".[3][9][10] In the same tweet, Musk claimed he would be taking legal action against Sweeney and "organizations who supported harm to my family" as a result of the alleged incident.[10][13] Musk publicly posted a video of a man in his car, which he claimed was the person who had been allegedly stalking him. The man in the video was also using his smartphone to record Musk, and Musk also showed the man's license plate in the video and asked his followers if anyone recognized him.[3] The Los Angeles Police Department said on December 16, 2022 that no police report had been filed stemming from the incident.[3]

Suspension of journalist accounts[edit]

On December 15, 2022, the social networking service Twitter suspended the accounts of several high-profile journalists who covered the platform and its owner and CEO, Elon Musk. These journalists included:[3][4][5][6]

Additionally, the Twitter account for Mastodon (@joinmastodon), a social media platform and a competitor of Twitter, was also suspended on the evening of December 15,[3][4][6] and users were unable to post any links to some of the most popular Mastodon servers on Twitter.[4] Twitter did not initially state why the Mastodon account was suspended or what specific rule it broke, but earlier in the day, the account had tweeted a link to an account on its own platform tracking the location of Musk's jet.[13] Although Mastodon's account was suspended and its links were blocked on Twitter, the term "Mastodon" was a trending topic on Twitter following the changes.[4]

Though it was not initially clear whether or not the suspensions would be permanent, Musk later clarified in a response to another Twitter user they would last for seven days.[3][4][6]

Explanation from Twitter and Musk[edit]

Musk publicly responded to the journalist suspensions a few hours after they occurred.[3] He said the accounts were suspended for doxxing,[3][4][9] specifically in violation of Twitter's new rule banning accounts that track the location and movement of private jets. That new rule was created on December 14, 2022, the day before the journalist accounts were suspended, in response to accounts that provided information about Musk's own private jet.[4][9] Musk claimed the banned accounts posted his "exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service".[3][1][4]

Musk defended his actions in a series of tweets, many of which were responses to other users. In one, he wrote: "Same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else".[3][4][13] In another, he wrote: "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not."[3][4][6] Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, told Reuters news service that the organization manually reviewed "any and all accounts" in violation of the new policy, which included posting direct links to the @ElonJet account. She said: "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."[14]

A few hours after the suspensions, Musk defended the action during a discussion on Twitter Spaces, which is a social audio feature of the platform. The discussion was hosted by BuzzFeed reporter Katie Notopoulos and one point included more than 30,000 concurrent listeners. The conversation included several of the suspended journalists, as well as the creator of the @ElonJet account, all of whom had been able to join due a bug that allowed for suspended accounts to join Twitter Spaces. After joining the conversation, Musk repeatedly said, "You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That's it."[14][4][5] Drew Harwell, one of the suspended journalists, briefly engaged in a conversation with Musk, asking questions and defending his actions. Musk left the chat a few minutes after joining, after which the Twitter Spaces feature was abruptly shutdown, disconnecting all the users in Notopoulos's space. Musk later said Twitter Spaces was temporarily unavailable due to a "legacy bug" and that it "should be working tomorrow".[4] The Twitter Spaces service remained offline for several hours before being available again, although several users who spoke in the Space, as well as the conversation's host found themselves banned from using Twitter Spaces.[21]

December 17[edit]

Some of the suspended journalists were reinstated on December 17.[8] Linette Lopez was not among them and Drew Harrell was asked to delete a tweet referencing @ElonJet to regain use of his account.[8] Later that day, Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, not among the original suspensions, was suspended after she asked Musk for comment on a story.[22][23]

Responses[edit]

Response from suspended journalists[edit]

The journalists were not initially told their accounts had been permanently suspended, and were not informed why they had been suspended or what specific rule they had violated.[3][1][5] Immediately after the suspension, Rupar said he was given no information about why the action occurred,[3][5] saying he hadn't "been given a reason, explanation, or been looped in about any possible duration."[3] Rupar added that he "didn't post anything remotely controversial today or anytime recently".[3] Micah Lee also said he was not given a reason for the suspension, but said it came shortly after he posted on Twitter about Mastodon's account suspension.[1] Lee also wrote: "While my reporting may not have provided the direct impetus for my suspension, it’s clear Musk was taking aim specifically at journalists who have covered him critically."[1] Olbermann's suspension occurred shortly after he had criticized the suspension of other journalists.[3] Rupar's suspension came one day after he had shared a Substack article by Noah Berlatsky that was critical of Musk, entitled "Elon Musk's Reactionary Populism".[6][24] After Musk's explanation about the suspensions, Aaron Rupar said he had not posted anything that violated the policy about disclosing locations, adding: "Unless the policy is that you criticize Elon and you get banned."[6]

Some of the suspended journalists had written stories about Musk suspending @ElonJet,[5] though others had not. Rupar told CNN that he had never posted anything about @ElonJet prior to his suspension.[6] Drew Harwell said he did not share information about Musk's private jet or personal location, but simply posted a link to the @ElonJet account in his stories.[14][5] Harwell also accused Musk of engaging in some of the same doxxing techniques that he claimed the suspended accounts committed. In a direct conversation with Musk on Twitter Spaces, Harwell said: "We have to acknowledge you are using the same exact link-blocking technique that you have criticized as part of the Hunter Biden–New York Post story in 2020."[1][5]

New York Times external communications director Charlie Stadtlander said the suspensions were "questionable and unfortunate", and that neither the Times nor Ryan Mac were provided an adequate explanation for the decision.[3] Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said the suspensions occurred "without warning, process, or explanation" and that they "directly undermined Elon Musk's claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech".[3] CNN issued a statement that Musk's actions were "impulsive and unjustified" but "not surprising", and that it would reevaluate its relationship with Twitter as a result. The CNN statement also said: "Twitter's increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter."[3] Oliver Darcy, senior media reporter with CNN, wrote that Musk's doxxing allegations were "not what those journalists did".[3]

Response from other commentators[edit]

Commentators have criticized Twitter and Musk for the suspensions, including media outlets and international representatives,[3][14] officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, as well as the United Nations and European Union.[14] Many of those critical of the actions said they undermined Musk's claims of supporting free speech.[3] Drew Harwell, whose account was suspended, said: "Elon says he is a free speech champion and he is banning journalists for exercising free speech. I think that calls into question his commitment."[6] The phrase "Thursday Night Massacre" was a trending topic on Twitter following the suspensions;[3][14][1] news site Mediaite also used the phrase in a headline describing the suspension and subsequent fallout, and it has since become a common term for representing the incident.[3]

United Nations spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said she was "deeply disturbed" by the suspensions and that "media freedom is not a toy".[14] U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wrote public tweets directly to Musk, saying the suspensions were irresponsible actions for a public figure, and that abusing power and banning journalists only increased the scrutiny around him, adding: "Take a beat and lay off the proto-fascism. Maybe try putting down your phone."[3] Brendan Carr, a commissioner with the FCC, said that he was not yet familiar with the circumstances of the actions, but that "one person should not get to decide who participates in the digital town square".[5]

Věra Jourová, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, said on December 6 that Musk's suspension of journalists could violate the European Commission's Digital Services Act and that sanctions against him were possible, writing that "News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying."[5] Roland Lescure, the French Minister of Commerce, ceased his own Twitter activity in protest of the suspensions.[14] The German Foreign Office warned Twitter that the move jeopardizes press freedom.[14] The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing said the suspensions "violate the spirit of the First Amendment and the principle that social media platforms will allow the unfiltered distribution of information that is already in the public square".[14]

On December 15, Musk issued a public Twitter poll asking users when the suspensions should be lifted. The top result after the poll closed was "Now." Musk then wrote "Sorry too many options. Will redo poll", before issuing a new poll altogether.[3][13] Musk had previously issued a similar poll asking whether Donald Trump's Twitter account should be reinstated, and he lifted Trump's suspension shortly after the majority in that poll suggested it should be, with Musk writing, "The people have spoken... Vox Populi, Vox Dei".[13] However, Forbes magazine wrote that it is unclear whether these unscientific polls truly inform or influence Musk's actions.[13]

Bari Weiss, who worked with Musk to publish the Twitter Files, disagreed with Musk's actions, and argued with him on Twitter about them.[25][unreliable source?]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Lee, Micah (December 16, 2022). "Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I'm One of Them". The Intercept. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dang, Sheila (December 17, 2022). "Elon Musk restores Twitter accounts of journalists but concerns persist". Reuters. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 3.27 3.28 3.29 3.30 3.31 3.32 3.33 3.34 3.35 3.36 3.37 3.38 3.39 3.40 Luciano, Michael (December 15, 2022). "Twitter Suspends Several Reporters Who Cover Elon Musk in Thursday Night Massacre". Mediaite. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 Abbruzzese, Jason; Collier, Kevin; Helsel, Phil (December 15, 2022). "Twitter suspends journalists who have been covering Elon Musk and the company". NBC News. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 Johnson, Ted; Hipes, Patrick (December 16, 2022). "Twitter Abruptly Suspends Several Journalists Who Have Covered Elon Musk; EU Official Warns Of Sanctions — Update". Deadline. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 Massie, Graeme (December 16, 2022). "Twitter suspends liberal journalist Aaron Rupar and CNN, NYT and Washington Post reporters". The Independent. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 @elonmusk. "The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now" (Tweet) – via Twitter. Missing or empty |date= (help)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Barr, Jeremy Barr; Ellison, Sarah (December 17, 2022). "Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 Wile, Rob; Collier, Kevin; Helsel, Phil (December 14, 2022). "Elon Musk threatens legal action, suspends Twitter account that tracks his jet". NBC News. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 Peters, Jay (December 14, 2022). "Twitter banned the @ElonJet account tracking Musk's flights, reinstated it, then banned it again". The Verge. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9 O'Sullivan, Donie (December 16, 2022). "Twitter suspends account that tracked Musk's private jet, despite billionaire's 'free speech' pledge". CNN. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  12. ↑ Shutler, Ali (2022-12-16). "Elon Musk's Twitter bans links to rival social media site Mastodon, claiming it's malware". NME. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  13. ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 13.11 Reimann, Nicholas; Hart, Robert (December 16, 2022). "Twitter Suspends Accounts For Rival Mastodon And Several High-Profile Journalists". Forbes. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  14. ↑ 14.00 14.01 14.02 14.03 14.04 14.05 14.06 14.07 14.08 14.09 14.10 14.11 14.12 14.13 14.14 14.15 Dang, Sheila (December 16, 2022). "Elon Musk's Twitter suspension of journalists draws global backlash". Financial Post. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  15. ↑ Warner, Bernhard (December 16, 2022). "Musk Faces Growing Anger Over Twitter Ban of Journalists". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Conger, Kate; Mac, Ryan (November 3, 2022). "Elon Musk Begins Layoffs at Twitter". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Sherman, Natalie; Thomas, Daniel (April 25, 2022). "Elon Musk strikes deal to buy Twitter for $44bn". BBC News. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 25, 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  18. ↑ Lopatto, Elizabeth (October 27, 2022). "Twitter is now an Elon Musk company". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  19. ↑ Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (November 6, 2022). "My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 Holt, Kris (December 14, 2022). "Twitter suspends account that tracked Elon Musk's private jet". Engadget. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  21. ↑ Notopoulos, Katie (16 December 2022). "Katie Notopoulos on Twitter: "It seems my account is banned… but only from Spaces. (This is what I get if I try to join or start a Space)"". Twitter - Katie Notopoulos. Retrieved 17 December 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ Knodel, Jamie (December 17, 2022). "Musk reinstates suspended journalists after Twitter poll". NBC News. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  23. ↑ Quinn, Allison (December 17, 2022). "Elon Musk Boots WaPo's Taylor Lorenz From Twitter". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 17, 2022. Lorenz was apparently suspended for 'violating the Twitter rules,' though it wasn’t immediately clear which one.
  24. ↑ Rupar, Aaron; Berlatsky, Noah (December 14, 2022). "Elon Musk's reactionary populism". Substack. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  25. ↑ Ramirez, Nikki McCann (December 16, 2022). "Elon Musk Blasts Crony Bari Weiss for Disagreeing With Journalist Ban". Rolling Stone.


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