Twitter suspends journalists who have covered Elon Musk and company
Twitter suspended several high-profile journalists Thursday night who have covered the company and Elon Musk.
The suspensions come a day after Twitter changed its policies around accounts that track private jets, including one owned by Elon Musk.
Reporting by Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept and independent reporters Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster all were suspended from Thursday evening.
The Twitter account of Mastodon, a platform considered an alternative, was also suspended early Thursday evening.
It was not immediately clear why the accounts were suspended, although someone had tweeted about the suspension of the Twitter account tracking Musk̵[ads1]7;s jet, @ElonJet, and its availability on Mastodon.
As of Thursday evening, Twitter accounts run by NBC News journalists were unable to tweet a link to the Mastodon account of @ElonJet.
Lee said in a text message that before the suspension, he had tried to tweet out a link to the Mastodon account tracking Musk’s jet, but failed and instead tweeted a screenshot.
The suspensions come as Musk has gone back on his promise that he would run Twitter as a free-speech absolute, reinstating accounts linked to the QAnon movement and other far-right groups while banning others.
Internally, he has removed critics of his policies from the company.
The suspensions add to what has been a tumultuous couple of days for Twitter after the company first suspended the account that tracked Musk’s jet.
Musk appeared to threaten legal action against its creator, Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old student from Florida, after Musk claimed a “stalker” confronted a car carrying his child in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Musk provided no evidence that Sweeney or his account was involved. He did not specify the time or place in the sprawling metropolitan area where the alleged incident occurred.
Sweeney told NBC News on Wednesday that he has not received any notice of legal action, and the last time his bot tweeted anything was Dec. 12, “which is not last night, so I don’t see how that’s connected.”
Los Angeles police said Thursday that no police reports had been filed.
“The LAPD’s Threat Management Unit is aware of the situation and tweets by Elon Musk and is in contact with his representatives and security team. No crime reports have been filed yet, Police Officer Lizeth Loeni, a police public information officer, said in a statement Thursday evening.
There are other law enforcement departments that also cover parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
This is a development story. Please check back for updates.
