Twitter has suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists and Mastodon, a fledgling rival site who were covering Elon Musk.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, has suspended the accounts of a number of well-known journalists for their coverage of his "precise real-time location," including CNN's Donie O'Sullivan and The Washington Post's Drew Harwell.
Taking control of Twitter with the declared intention of eradicating censorship, Musk, who has referred to himself as an absolutist of free expression, wrote after a Twitter user posted screenshots of suspended accounts of some journalists that "doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else."
"They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service,” Elon Musk tweeted.
Musk further added, "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not."
The user`s post also included journalists Ryan Mac from The New York Times and Aaron Rupar from the Independent.
While one user commented, "Most regular users come here for the journalists. Once they`re gone, so is your audience", another said: "When are you going suspend @weatherchannel & @JMichaelsNews for doxxing the real live locations of all these tornado survivors in Gretna, Louisiana? You promised a dedication to free speech & now you are the suppressor."
Elon Musk later tweeted that "Accounts engaged in doxxing receive a temporary 7 day suspension."
The main account of Mastodon, a website for those looking for an alternative to Twitter, was also suspended by the microblogging service in the meantime.
Twitter on Thursday deactivated an account that was live-tracking Musk's private jet, a month after Musk declared that he was committed to free expression and would not restrict the account.
Twitter's new head of trust and safety Ella Irwin told Reuters last month that the company is increasingly mainly relying on technology to censor content, doing away with certain manual checks and prioritising distribution limitations over outright removal of particular speech.
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