Aaron Rupar Warns Twitter Suspensions Will Have a ‘Chilling Effect’ on Musk Coverage Because Reporters Will ‘Think Twice’
Aaron Rupar appeared on Friday’s edition of MSNBC’s All In to discuss his suspension from Twitter the previous night.
Rupar was one of a handful of reporters suspended at the behest of CEO Elon Musk who alleged they “doxxed” him by posting links to a Facebook page that tracks Musk’s private jet. Twitter suspended a version of the tracker on its platform on Wednesday. Musk claims the tracker endangers him and his family. He updated the platform’s terms of service this week to outlaw the posting of such information.
When he was suspended, Rupar said he had no idea why, but ultimately learned it had to do with the fact he noted the jet tracker still exists on Facebook.
“I actually had a pretty low-key day on Twitter yesterday,” he told Chris Hayes before elaborating on the reason for the suspension. “It had to do with posting a link to the Facebook page for the @elonjet account, which you were just talking about, that apparently hours after I posted a tweet just noting that even though the account was banned on Twitter, it was still alive on Facebook, Elon declare that to be a violation of their terms of service and then the next day, banned me.”
Rupar said he believes his account will be reinstated.
“I’ve been led to believe that the ban is temporary and that at some point will be reinstated,” he continued.
He concluded the suspensions may have a “chilling effect” and may give journalists pause before they post about Musk.
“I think that the other thing that’s important to note here is that this will very likely have a chilling effect on coverage of Musk,” he stated. “I’ve done a couple newsletter articles being critical of him and reporters who have been critical of him in the course of the reporting were among those banned. And now we’re gonna have to think twice if our accounts are reinstated before we post something that’s critical of him or even just down-the-middle reporting that could be construed as being critical of Twitter.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
