Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of a number of outstanding journalists who lately wrote about its new proprietor Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that guidelines banning the publishing of non-public data utilized to all, together with journalists.

Responding to a Tweet on the account suspensions, Musk tweeted: “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” a reference to Twitter guidelines banning the sharing of non-public data, referred to as doxxing.

Same doxxing guidelines apply to “journalists” as to everybody else

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022

On Wednesday, Twitter suspended @elonjet, an account monitoring Musk’s non-public jet in real-time utilizing information out there within the public area. Musk had threatened authorized motion towards the account’s operator, saying his son had been mistakenly adopted by a “crazy stalker”.

Musk added on Thursday: “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The suspensions come after Musk has repeatedly vowed to uphold absolute free speech on the platform he purchased for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) in October. He reinstated the account of former President Donald Trump, who had been suspended from Twitter over his actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, siege of the US Capitol.

“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk had tweeted in April.

After firing 1000’s of staff after Musk’s $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) takeover in October, Twitter is working with much-diminished employees. It is now leaning closely on automation to reasonable content material, eliminating sure handbook opinions and favouring restrictions on distribution moderately than eradicating sure speech outright, its new head of belief and security Ella Irwin instructed Reuters this month.

Twitter on Thursday confirmed “account suspended” notices for a clutch of journalists’ accounts. It additionally suspended the official account of the social media firm Mastodon (@joinmastodon), which has emerged as an alternative choice to Twitter since Musk purchased it.

Mastodon couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

The accounts of Times reporter Ryan Mac (@rmac18), Post reporter Drew Harwell (@drewharwell), CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan (@donie), and Mashable reporter Matt Binder @MattBinder have been suspended. The account of unbiased journalist Aaron Rupar (@atrupar), who covers U.S. coverage and politics, was additionally suspended.

A spokesperson for The New York Times stated: “Tonight’s suspension of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including The New York Times’s Ryan Mac, is questionable and unfortunate. Neither The Times nor Ryan have received any explanation about why this occurred. We hope that all of the journalists’ accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action.”

CNN stated “the impulsive and unjustified” suspensions have been regarding however not stunning. The community stated it had requested Twitter for a proof and would reevaluate its relationship with the platform primarily based on that response.

The different reporters couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

© Thomson Reuters 2022