Musk suspends NYT and WaPo reporters from Twitter, claims they doxxed him

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Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk is now suspending some journalists who write about him, including reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. The journalist suspensions appear to be part of Musk's quest to erase references or links to the now-suspended ElonJet account that was using publicly available ADS-B Exchange data to track Musk's private jet. p>

Musk claimed the suspended reporters violated the new policy that prohibits live location sharing in most scenarios. Musk wrote that "the same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as everyone else" and that the suspended journalists "posted my exact real-time location, essentially the coordinates of the assassination, in violation ( obvious) directly from Twitter's Terms of Service". /p>

It seems that simply posting a link to the ElonJet account on other social networks is enough for a suspension.

"I have no idea what rules I allegedly broke. I haven't heard anything from Twitter at all," wrote journalist Aaron Rupar on his Substack. He later added an update, writing that "it occurred to me just after posting this that I posted a tweet yesterday noting that the ElonJet account that was suspended from Twitter was still active on Facebook, with a link to the Facebook page. As difficult as it may be to interpret a link to a Facebook page that uses publicly available information to track a private jet as a violation of a policy of "doxxing ", it seems that's what Twitter did to justify my ban."

Mashable reporter Matt Binder, who was also suspended, said he had not posted any links to ElonJet or any other location-based accounts. Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell was suspended and he disputed Musk's claim that he violated the doxxing policy, as Reuters wrote:

Harwell, however, was able to speak on a Twitter Spaces conversation with other reporters late Thursday night, a conversation Musk himself briefly participated in.

"You dox, you're suspended. End of story," Musk said on the chat as Harwell dismissed the claim that he exposed Musk's real-time location, saying he simply had posted on @elonjet.

The suspensions may be temporary as Musk polled his followers on whether "accounts that doxxed my exact location in real time" should be reinstated now or in seven days.

Washington Post: “Our journalist should be reinstated”

In what was apparently Harwell's last post before he was suspended, he wrote that Twitter had suspended rival social network Mastodon's account "because it posted a link to its own website's version from @ElonJet - public, legally acquired data that Twitter ruled two days ago was against the rules. Love free speech."

Washington Post editor Sally Buzbee says Harwell's suspension "directly undermines Elon Musk's assertion that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to freedom of expression. Harwell was banned from Twitter without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of his report on Musk. Our reporter should be reinstated immediately."

The suspended reporters also include Ryan Mac of the New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Micah Lee of The Intercept, commentator Keith Olbermann, Steve Herman of the government-funded Voice of America, and freelance journalist Tony Webster. < /p>

According to CNN, "A New York Times spokesperson called the mass bans 'questionable and unfortunate,' adding, 'Neither the Times nor Ryan have received an explanation about...