SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Twitter suspended on Thursday accounts of more than a half-dozen journalists who had been writing about the company and its new owner Elon Musk.
Silencing journalists at Twitter while claiming to be a free speech champion is the latest controversy provoked by Musk since he took over the company, which has seen staffing gutted and advertisers exit.
Some of the journalists had been tweeting about Twitter shutting down an @ElonJet account that tracked flights of billionaire Musk’s private jet and about versions of that account hosted at other social networks.
Twitter did not say why the reporters’ accounts were suspended.
“Nothing says free speech like suspending journalists who cover you,” Sarah Reese Jones of news commentary website PoliticusUSA said in a tweeted response to posts about the suspensions.
Checks at Twitter showed account suspensions included reporters from CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post as well as independent journalists.
“The impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising,” the news organisation said in a tweet.
“Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses the platform.”
CNN said that it has asked Twitter for an explanation of the suspension.
In a statement, The New York Times said it also wanted answers from Twitter regarding the “questionable” suspension of journalists.
“I have no idea what rules I purportedly broke,” independent journalist Aaron Rupar, whose Twitter account was suspended, wrote in a Substack post.
“I haven’t heard anything from Twitter at all.”
