Guwahati: Elon Musk on Saturday decided to lift the suspension of a number of journalists’ Twitter accounts in response to the findings of a survey he conducted among Twitter users.
“The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now,” the Twitter owner tweeted.
Musk surveyed people for 24 hours to choose whether the accounts should be restored “immediately” or “in 7 days,” according to Fox News, a US-based news source. Twitter users split the difference 59-41 in favour of “now.” There were around 3.7 million Twitter users that responded to the study.
“Now” also did better than “tomorrow,” “in 7 days,” and “longer” in a different poll Musk held on Thursday, but Musk complained that the poll included “too many alternatives.”
Famous journalists from the legacy media, including CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac, and Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, were abruptly informed that they were “permanently suspended” during what has come to be known as the “Thursday Night Massacre.”
Additionally impacted were the journalists Aaron Rupar of ex-Vox, Micah Lee of The Intercept, Steve Herman of Voice of America, Matt Binder of Mashable, Keith Olbermann of ex-MSNBC, and Matt Binder of Mashable.
The controversy began when @ElonJet, an account that only tracked Musk’s use of private aircraft, was suspended. Because the account was “doxxing real-time location info” and posting video of a “crazy stalker” who was harassing his child in Los Angeles while believing the Twitter owner was present, Musk claimed the account was suspended for a “physical safety violation” and was consequently suspended. Musk threatened to sue the person who used the account.
On Wednesday, Musk warned Twitter users, “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.”
The Twitter users who were suspended on Thursday either posted links to the private aircraft monitoring on their own accounts or had written articles about the suspension of @ElonJet.
Many criticised the premise of Musk’s “doxxing” charges because it is known that he uses a private jet, while others accused him of hypocrisy because he had described himself as a “free speech absolutist” when he bought Twitter, according to Fox News.
The “impulsive and unreasonable” action was criticised in statements from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, who also urged that their reporters be given permission to return to Twitter.
Many people who supported Musk asserted that the journalists had broken the regulations. Others applauded the bans, alleging that those who were punished supported censorship and remained silent when Twitter took action against users before Musk, including the New York Post before the 2020 election for its coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.