Left-Wing Journalists Purged from Twitter - Elon Musk Announces How Things Will Work Going Forward
Twitter suspended several left-wing media figures from the service on Thursday night.
The suspended accounts included those of Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, the New York Times’ Ryan Mac and progressive blogger Aaron Rupar.
Reporters covering Elon Musk being nuked:
Donie O’Sullivan, @CNN
Drew Harwell, @washingtonpost
Ryan Mac, @nytimes
Aaron Rupar, independent pic.twitter.com/1x9oJijobA— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) December 16, 2022
The suspensions appeared to stem from the posting of content related to @ElonJet, a Twitter account that tracked the movements of Twitter owner Elon Musk’s private jet in real time.
That account was suspended from Twitter earlier this week, but some users shared content from the operation’s presence on other social media sites.
so far, i’ve been able to confirm about half the accounts suspended posted links to the jet tracker thing in violation of the new doxx’ing policy. unclear just yet about the rest, but i think it’s safe to say the rule is for real. https://t.co/8MDCG19kNO
— Mike Solana (@micsolana) December 16, 2022
Musk tweeted that the suspended accounts had broken the platform’s rules on doxing — publicizing sensitive, private information about an individual and potentially exposing the person to harm.
The megabillionaire said they had shared what amounted to “assassination coordinates” in direct violation of Twitter’s terms of service.
Musk indicated that journalists would be held to the same terms of service as other users on Twitter under his administration after the temporary bans.
They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
Twitter’s new owner indicated the accounts would be allowed to return to the platform after seven days.
Accounts engaged in doxxing receive a temporary 7 day suspension
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
Also suspended Thursday night was Keith Olbermann, a progressive extremist known for targeting his political opponents with threatening rants on Twitter.
Musk said Olbermann would be restored on Twitter after serving a seven-day suspension.
“Some time away from Twitter is good for the soul,” he said.
7 day suspension for doxxing. Some time away from Twitter is good for the soul …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
Twitter’s terms of service prohibit doxing.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
