Musk is referring to the new “doxxing” rules that resulted in a permanent suspension of @ElonJet, a Twitter account that tracked the real-time location of the multi-billionaire’s private plane. The suspension of @ElonJet came as Musk claimed that a stranger attacked his car while his young son was inside. He later said that the platform will suspend anyone who shares the real-time location info of someone else without permission. It is a “physical safety violation.” According to Musk, the suspended journalists violated this rule. They posted his “assassination coordinates,” i. e. real-time location. “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” he tweeted after news of suspensions started circulating. Before his suspension, Donie O’Sullivan shared an interview with Jack Sweeney, who handled the @ElonJet. Ryan Mac also questioned Twitter’s policies after @ElonJet’s suspension. The suspended journalists have also been critical of Twitter and Elon Musk in recent weeks. The self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” recently banned rival social media company Mastodon, though the ban came after the latter posted a link to @ElonJet. But some suggested the ban was a deliberate suppression of competition. Drew Harwell was suspended after a tweet about Mastodon’s ban. Independent journalist Aaron Rupar also received a suspension after sharing a link to @ElonJet’s Facebook page. Musk had last month said that he would not ban @ElonJet because of his commitment to free speech. However, he quickly made a U-turn on that statement, claiming that the information shared by the account endangered his family. Some of the suspended journalists questioned this. Mashable’s Matt Binder retweeted a post doubting Musk’s claim before the suspension. NBC News Senior Reporter Ben Collins has listed the suspended journalists’ accounts on a Twitter thread.
Twitter may reinstate the suspended journalists soon
The suspended journalists may have been critical of Musk’s new Twitter policies but that criticism didn’t likely result in their suspension. One of their recent tweets violated the new doxxing rules. Thankfully for them, it doesn’t appear to be a permanent ban. Musk recently posted a poll asking Twitter users to vote on when he should unsuspend accounts that shared his real-time location. He has provided two options to choose from: “Now” and “In 7 days”. As of this writing, nearly 1.5 million people have voted, with 60 percent of them saying the journalists should be reinstated immediately. Whether Musk lifts the suspension after the poll ends remains to be seen. We will keep you posted.
