Twitter suspends reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN

Twitter suspended the accounts Thursday night of several prominent tech and media journalists who had been covering the company’s new owner, billionaire Elon Musk.

The journalists whose accounts were suspended without warning include CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, the Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, the New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Intercept’s Micah Lee, Voice of America’s Steve Herman, and Mashable’s Matt Binder. Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann, an outspoken critic of Musk, also had his account suspended without warning.

“Tonight’s suspension of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including The New York Times’s Ryan Mac, is questionable and unfortunate,” a spokesperson told The Inquirer. “Neither The Times nor Ryan have received any explanation about why this occurred. We hope that all of the journalists’ accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action.”

CNN blasted the move to suspend journalists, calling it “impulsive and unjustified.” The network also has not received any explanation why one of its reporters was banned from the platform.

“Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter,” CNN said in a statement. “We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.”

Musk could not be reached for comment, but began tweeting about the suspensions late Thursday night. In one response, Musk suggested the move was due to Twitter’s policy change over accounts revealing his real-time location, put in place because a Twitter account — @ElonJet — tracked the movements of his private airplane.

“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk wrote in one response without showing any evidence reporters revealed private information. In another, he noted the new rules apply to journalists “as to everyone else.”

Twitter banned @ElonJet and the account of Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old who created the bot that tracked Musk’s movements based on publicly-available information. Twitter also suspended the account of Mastodon, a social media competitor, after it tweeted a link to @ElonJet on its platform.

“I posted links to publicly available, legally acquired data as well as links to Mastodon, which is also now banned by Twitter,” Harwell wrote on his Masodon account. “Elon Musk is free to ban whoever he wants from Twitter, just like people are free to take their speech somewhere else.

Not all the suspended journalists work for large news outlets. Aaron Rupar, an independent reporter who publishes a politics and media newsletter called Public Notice, was also among those who suddenly loss access to their Twitter account.

“I haven’t been provided any explanation at all from Twitter,” Rupar told the Inquirer. “I would appreciate it if someone there would try to explain the rationale for this. Twitter is obviously a huge, huge part of my audience, so as an independent journalist being cut off from that really hurts.”

Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, did not respond to a request for comment. But she told the Verge: “Without commenting on any specific accounts, I can confirm that we will suspend any accounts that violate our privacy policies and put other users at risk.”

Twitter no longer appears to have a communication’s team to respond to media requests following layoffs at the tech platform.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, officially took control of Twitter in October thanks to a $44 billion deal that was nearly preceded by a trial after the billionaire attempted to back out of the agreement. Part of the reason Musk said he purchased Twitter was because in his view, the platform wasn’t fulfilling its free speech mission.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement after closing the deal to purchase Twitter.

Since taking over, Musk has made several controversial moves, including reinstating former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, which had been shut down following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.