Elon Musk reinstated arrested journalists on Twitter after backlash

Amid intense backlash and accusations of violating press freedom, Twitter has restored the accounts of several journalists who were suspended earlier this week.

On Thursday evening, the social media platform suspended several reporters who tweeted or wrote about Elon Musk’s ownership of the company.

Among the novels kept dark is CNN’s Donnie O’Sullivan. Ryan Mac New York times; Drew Harwell Washington Post; Mika Lee from The Intercept; and journalist Arun Ropar.

On Friday evening, Musk made the decision to return the suspended accounts to a public vote. he is chirp An informal survey asked Twitter users to choose when to “unsuspend accounts that have excluded my exact location in real time”.

According to the poll, 58.7% of voters supported lifting the suspension immediately, compared to 41.3% who said Musk should wait another seven days.

Robar, whose account was reinstated on Friday, said the comment indicated Twitter’s instability.

“It’s clear evidence that it’s no longer a rules-based company,” Robar told NPR. “It’s basically a company based on Elon Musk’s whims and terms of service based on his mood every day.”

Joanne Donovan, director of research at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, believes this week’s flurry of commentary is only the beginning.

“The way Musk is targeting certain mainstream journalists, I think we’re going to see more of these hoaxes, not less, over the next couple of months,” she told NPR’s Michelle Martin. All things considered.

NPR has reached out to Twitter and Musk but has not received a response.

It all started with a Twitter account to track planes

Before the journalists’ accounts were suspended, Musk fell out with several accounts that tracked the movement of private jets used by billionaires, government officials and others.

Musk was particularly interested in the aircraft-tracking account, ElonJet, run by a 20-year-old student at the University of Central Florida, which Musk claims to have used “Crazy stalkerIn Los Angeles to follow up on one of Musk’s children.

Journalists who tweeted or wrote about Musk’s disagreement with the account later found themselves suspended.

Musk, who claims to be “pro-free speech,” denied accusations that the comment was in retaliation for the critical coverage. Instead, he said, the accounts represented a “violation of physical integrity” and could lead to “briefing” or sharing of personal information to encourage harassers.

“Swiping me all day is totally fine, but polling my location in real time and putting my family in danger is not,” chirp Thursday night.

The United Nations and the European Union condemned Musk’s crackdown

A number of organizations around the world have criticized Musk’s apparent silencing of prominent journalists on Twitter.

Melissa Fleming, the UN’s deputy secretary-general for global communications, said she was “deeply disturbed” by the comment.

“Media freedom is not a game. A free press is a cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in combating harmful disinformation,” Fleming chirp Friday.

Vera Jourova, the vice-president of the European Commission, warned Twitter of possible breaches of the EU’s Digital Services Act and Media Freedom Act.

“There are red lines and penalties, soon,” Jourova said chirp Friday.

The comment also angered several news organizations, who are demanding clarification as to why their reporters were temporarily banned.

CNN said in a message statement Thursday. “We will re-evaluate our relationship based on that response.”

For Robar, though he was initially worried about the Twitter ban negatively affecting his career, it turns out the opposite is true.

“The consequences for me have generally been very positive,” he said.

In the hours since his suspension, Robar said he’s received an outburst of support and a massive swarm of followers on his newly created Mastodon account — which he plans to use frequently.

“Although I’m back on Twitter, given this experience, it seems like a good time to spend more energy developing a following elsewhere,” Robar said.