Twitter Suspends Several Reporters Who Cover Elon Musk in Thursday Night Massacre

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Twitter suspended at least a handful of reporters on Thursday, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, the Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, the New York Times’ Ryan Mac, commentator Keith Olbermann, and political video influencer Aaron Rupar.

A couple of hours after the suspensions came down, Twitter CEO Elon Musk claimed the accounts in question had engaged in “doxxing,” which at its core is releasing private information about another person, which violates Twitter’s terms of service.

“Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” he said in reply to a tweet claiming that “about half” of the accounts linked to a tracker on another website that follows the movements of Musk’s private jet. That tracker uses publicly available information.

In a subsequent tweet, Musk claimed the suspended accounts posted his “exact real-time location,” and suggested they endangered his life.

“They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service,” he wrote.

In response, CNN’s Oliver Darcy tweeted, “This is not what those journalists did.”

Musk then tweeted that “doxxing” carries a seven-day suspension, suggesting the punishments aren’t permanent after all.

On Wednesday, Twitter banned an account that posted the movements of his private jet after Musk said in November he would not. The platform also banned the 20-year-old who runs the account. Musk even went so far as to threaten legal action against the man, who said he has not received any legal notice from the billionaire.

Musk claimed the account was endangering his family. He alleged a man “stalked” a car in which is young child was traveling. The CEO posted a video of the man, who he said climbed onto the hood of the vehicle. The video shows the man in his car, filming the person filming him. It also shows the man’s license plate. Musk asked his followers if anyone recognized him.

Police were called to the scene of the alleged incident in the Los Angeles suburb of South Pasadena, but no crime report was filed.

At least some of the suspended accounts reportedly relayed the fact that police said no report had been filed.

Rupar, who made Mediaite’s list of the Most Influential in News Media for 2022 published on Thursday, said he does not know why his account was suspended.

“I have absolutely no information at all,” he told Mediaite on Thursday night. “All it says is that my account is suspended. I haven’t been given a reason, explanation, or been looped in about any possible duration.”

O’Sullivan, a disinformation beat reporter for CNN, also made Mediaite’s list.

Later, it was reported Rupar’s account was permanently suspended.

“I didn’t post anything remotely controversial today or anytime recently, nor have I posted anything that violated the rules as I understand them,” Rupar told Mediaite when asked if he could think of any reason why his account might have been suspended.

Ben Collins of NBC news reported that Twitter also suspended Mashable’s Matt Binder and First Look Media’s Micah Flee.

Meanwhile, Twitter suspended Olbermann’s account shortly after he criticized the suspensions.

The suspensions come weeks after Musk officially bought Twitter and became CEO. Musk, who promised to make Twitter a haven for “free speech,” had complained the platform had become overly censorious – particularly in its handling of accounts belonging to conservatives. He has since restored several accounts that had been permanently suspended under the old regime, including that of Donald Trump, who has so far declined to use the platform again.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that the alleged incident involving a man following a car supposedly driving Musk’s child occurred in South Pasadena, and not Los Angeles as originally reported.