Elon Musk’s Twitter poll on journalists’ suspension: Here are the results

Elon Musk said it is “inspiring to see the press’s newfound love of free speech”. (File)

Elon Musk today chose to respond with sarcasm to criticism for having suspended half a dozen journalists from Twitter. Days after several journalists from prominent organizations such as CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post lost access to their accounts without warning, Musk tweeted about the press̵[ads1]7;s “freedom of speech.”

So inspiring to see the press’s newfound love for freedom of expression ?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 16 December 2022

“So inspiring to see the press’s newfound love for free speech,” the one-time richest man in the world tweeted.

Musk, who bought Twitter in October and took it private, accused the reporters of putting his family at risk. What sparked this latest controversy was the suspension of an account tracking his private jet. The move was necessary after “a crazy stalker” followed a car with one of his children in it in Los Angeles, Musk said, appearing to blame the account tracking his jet.

Some of the journalists had reported the suspension of the jet tracker, which Musk said were “assassination coordinates” for his family, but provided no evidence for his claim.

“Any account that provides real-time location information for someone will be suspended, as it is a physical security breach. This includes posting links to websites with real-time location information. Publishing locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis is not a security issue, so it is ok,” he said yesterday.

Interestingly, Musk tweeted a poll asking users if they should “unsuspend accounts that doxxed my exact location in real time.” The winning alternative is “Now” with 43 percent of the vote.

Unsuspend accounts that doxxed my exact location in real time

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 16 December 2022

Given that Musk had revived the suspended accounts of former US President Donald Trump and others after a similar poll, further developments on the suspension of journalists are awaited.

“If someone posted real-time locations and addresses to NYT reporters, the FBI would be investigating, there would be hearings on Capitol Hill and Biden would be giving speeches about the end of democracy!” the billionaire tweeted again, responding to the poll.

Twitter recently unveiled a policy update that prohibits the sharing of live location information.

Musk this week lost the top spot on the global rich list to Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury brand Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH. This after he sold Tesla shares worth 3.6 billion dollars. He has so far raised $20 billion by selling his shares in his electric car company.

Twitter is also looking for new equity investors, recent reports suggest.