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Elon Musk reinstated the Twitter accounts of six journalists who had been temporarily suspended for revealing how to follow the billionaire’s private jet.
Based on the results of a 24-hour Twitter poll he issued Friday evening, in which he asked whether the accounts should be reactivated immediately or in seven days, the Twitter CEO removed the suspension early Saturday morning for the majority of users. More than 58% of voters wanted him to immediately reinstate the journalists.
Musk tweeted at 12:18 a.m. on Saturday, “The people have spoken.” “Accounts that doxxed my location will no longer be suspended.”
Just after Musk’s declaration, the accounts of New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, and other journalists were restored.
“I would want to thank everyone for their support and nice words over the previous day and a half,” said Aaron Rupar, an independent journalist who was among those suspended.
“Initially, I was rather upset about being suspended, but I quickly understood that it wouldn’t be a problem because I’m blessed with an incredible online community. Sincerely, I appreciate it a great deal. Cheers,” Rupar remarked.
However, Keith Olbermann’s account remained disabled early Saturday morning. It was initially unclear why.
Olbermann’s final tweet urged followers to replicate the tweet that led to Harwell’s suspension, which revealed the location of Musk’s private jet.
The journalists were suspended for around 28 hours for allegedly disclosing Musk’s location, a violation of a new policy enforced by Twitter’s CEO on Wednesday after Musk claimed a stalker followed and leapt on top of a car carrying his young son.
Musk hinted that the dad was able to locate his child by scouring accounts such as @ElonJet, which chronicles the real-time use of his private jet and has since been suspended.
The new rule specifies that users who doxx real-time location information will be suspended. He stated that users might post the positions of others “little delayed.”
Musk asserted that the journalists he had suspended had revealed his “precise real-time position, or assassination coordinates.”
He joined a Twitter Spaces conference to respond to queries from suspended journalists, the majority of whom said they had never shared the tech mogul’s locations.
Musk provided little explanation beyond, “You dox, you get suspended, period.”
He added, “There is no preferential treatment for journalists.”
Musk agreed with a Twitter user that the “sole reason” journalists want to publish his personal information is to inspire others to abuse him and his family.
Musk stated, “There is no other explanation.”
»Musk restores journalists’ Twitter suspensions: ‘The people have spoken’«