Elon Musk has promised to restore the Twitter accounts of some journalists who had their accounts suspended after he accused them of putting his family in danger.
After banning the accounts of more than a dozen illustrious journalists from the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post, Musk drew ire and threats from the EU and UN.
“The people have spoken. The suspension of the accounts that doxxed my location will now be lifted “The Twitter owner tweeted.
Musk polled Twitter users to decide whether he should unblock the suspended accounts right now or wait a week. He should restore the accounts right away, according to about 59% of the 3.69 million participants.
Aaron Rupar, a former journalist for Vox, appears to be tweeting once again from one of the prohibited accounts.
Rupar wrote, “I was extremely disappointed about getting suspended first but quickly realized it’d be alright because I’m privileged to have an awesome online community.
The most recent issue started when Musk suspended @elonjet, an account that recorded the travels of his private plane, on Wednesday.
Musk claimed to blame the tracking of his plane for the incident, saying the move was required after a car transporting one of his children in Los Angeles was being tracked by “a crazy stalker.”
Some of the journalists had written about the situation, including tweets pointing to the @elonjet account, which Musk said amounted to providing “assassination coordinates” against him and his family.
Musk claimed in a live Twitter conversation that “everyone’s going to be treated the same” and that “you’re not special because you’re a journalist,” but offered no supporting proof for his assertion.
Musk halted the exchange after being pressed further on his claims. The conversation component, Twitter Spaces, was then shut off.
The European Union, UN, and media organizations all harshly criticized Musk’s decision to ban the journalists’ accounts.
Vera Jourova, an EU commissioner, wrote on Twitter, “News regarding the arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is alarming,” expressing concern that Twitter would be subject to harsh fines under European law.
“Elon Musk needs to be aware of that. There are red lines. And soon sanctions,” she tacked on.
It is a “dangerous precedent at a time when journalists throughout the globe are experiencing censorship, physical threats, and even worse,” according to the UN leader Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson.
Since Musk purchased ownership of Twitter for $44 billion, mostly through the sale of shares in his profitable electric car firm Tesla, Twitter has lurched from one issue to the next.
Major advertisers have been frightened away by the billionaire’s claims of free speech, and authorities have taken notice.
In addition to attacking Anthony Fauci, the departing senior advisor for the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a regular target of slander in right-wing media, Musk has restored the account of former US President Donald Trump.
According to CNN, the former head of trust and safety at Twitter ran away from his house after Musk’s unfounded criticism of Twitter’s content filtering.
More than half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees were laid off as a result of a purge Musk ordered, and now many of them are suing the SpaceX and Tesla billionaire in court.
Musk once indicated he was going to battle with Apple over the App Store, only to subsequently tweet that there had been a “misunderstanding.”
Market watcher Insider Intelligence predicted that Twitter will lose users.
According to Insider Intelligence researcher Jasmine Enberg, there won’t be a single cataclysmic incident that brings an end to Twitter.
Instead, people will begin to abandon the network the next year as they get disillusioned with the platform’s technological problems and the spread of offensive or otherwise objectionable content.
