Elon Musk has suspended the Twitter accounts of several journalists according to the social media platform’s “doxxing” policy.
The suspended reporters have covered or tweeted about an account that tracks Musk’s private jet flights and shares his real-time location data. According to Twitter policy, sharing real-time location data is no longer allowed on the platform. On December 14, Musk posted a video of what he said was a stalker who was following a car that one of his children was riding in. Musk said that the person used the flight tracker data to find the vehicle, blocked the car from moving, and climbed onto the hood.
Some of the suspended journalists claim they were being suspended for tweeting critically about Elon Musk and that their suspensions run afoul of Musk’s desire to keep free speech on the platform. CNN, Washington Post, and Buzbee have released statements echoing concerns about their journalists being suspended.
Musk tweeted that a doxxing suspension lasts for 7 days and “there is not special treatment for journalists.”
@ElonJet was an account operated by Florida college freshman Jack Sweeney that posts real-time locations of Musks’ private flights. Musk suspending the account drew the ire of left-wing journalists on the platform, many of whom have been at odds with Musk since he purchased Twitter and began exposing data of government and intelligence organizations working with Twitter staff to block and shadow ban accounts often out of political animous.
Responding to various tweets about the journalist bans, Musk tweeted late Thursday:
“They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service.”
