After several prominent media critics of Twitter owner Elon Musk were banned from the platform without explanation on Thursday, an explanation was eventually offered.
In a series of tweets, Musk said the journalists — including CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, The Intercept journalist Micah Lee, Mashable writer Matt Binder, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann and former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar — allegedly violated the platform’s new policy not to share location information.
Musk defended his decision to suspend the journalists and said they would remain off the platform for seven days.
The second installment of Elon Musk’s so-called “Twitter Files” shed light on the company’s practices of secretly “blacklisting” certain tweets.
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Hours later, Musk polled his 121.6 million followers on whether the journalists should be reinstated.
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“Unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time?” he asked with a poll of options, “Now, Tomorrow, Seven days from now, [or] longer.”
Musk scrapped the poll after 43% said the accounts should be reinstated and 57% collectively said they should remain suspended.
He then launched a new poll with just two options: “Now” or “In seven days.”
The “Now” option was ahead, 55% to 45%, with over 250,000 votes.
Musk clarified the journalists were suspended for sharing his “real-time location.”
“They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service,” Musk wrote Thursday evening.
In another tweet, he added: “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else.”
“Accounts engaged in doxxing receive a temporary 7 day suspension,” he continued.
And, “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”
Musk, who has described himself as being a free-speech absolutist, was almost immediately met with backlash from his critics.
Many called for him to explain why those accounts were suspended while others demanded they be reinstated.
This story is developing and will be updated.
