San Francisco: Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of more than half a dozen journalists who were writing about the company and its new owner, Elon Musk.
Some journalists were tweeting about Twitter shutting down the @ElonJet account that tracked the billionaire’s private jet flights and hosting versions of that account on other social networks.
Twitter did not say why the reporters’ accounts were suspended.
Sarah Reese-Jones of the news commentary website PoliticusUSA said in a tweet in response to posts about the suspension, “Nothing says suspension to the journalists who cover you.
A check on Twitter showed that account suspensions included reporters from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, as well as independent journalists.
Twitter rival Mastodon’s account was also suspended, according to a report by JEE News.
Musk tweeted on Wednesday that a car carrying one of his children in Los Angeles had been followed by a “crazy stalker” and appeared to blame his jet tracking for the alleged incident. Accuses. In the tweet, he said that legal action is being taken against the person who operated the Elon Jet.
A Twitter account that tracked Musk’s private jet flights was shut down Wednesday, despite the billionaire’s assertion that he is a free speech autocrat.
“Well it looks like @alvinjett has been suspended,” creator Jack Sweeney tweeted from his @JxckSweeney account, which was also later suspended.
Twitter later tweeted that it had updated its policy to prevent tweets, in most cases, from giving away someone’s location in real time.
“Any account sharing real-time location information of anyone will be suspended, as it is a breach of physical security,” Musk said in a tweet.
“This includes posting links to sites with real-time location information.”
Doxxing refers to revealing identifying information such as a home address or phone number online, usually to abuse someone.
Tweets sharing a person’s location that are “not on the same day” are allowed under the tweet policy, as are posts about being at a public event such as a concert, Twitter said.
Sweeney drew attention from his Twitter account that tracks Musk’s plane movements and even rejected Musk’s offer of $5,000 to shut down @ElonJet, which had millions of followers.
Musk had publicly said he would not touch the account after buying Twitter in a $44 billion deal as part of his commitment to freedom of expression on the platform.
Flight-tracking websites and numerous Twitter accounts offer real-time views of air traffic, but the display has drawn pushback from complaints to equipment tours.
US law requires aircraft in certain areas to be equipped with ADS-B technology that broadcasts aircraft positions using signals that relatively simple equipment can pick up.
