Elon Musk reinstates suspended journalists from Twitter following a poll conducted on how to handle accounts who ‘doxxed’ his location

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Twitter suspended several accounts belonging to journalists covering Elon Musk on Thursday. Musk conducted a poll about their reinstatement.

Twitter announced Friday that Elon Musk would restore accounts of journalists suspended one day before — many were back on Twitter shortly after the announcement.

A number of prominent journalists covering Musk’s Twitter takeover were suddenly removed from the platform on Thursday without any explanation. The company announced privacy rules and had already suspended accounts owned by Jack Sweney, a college student.

Musk suggested that the suspensions of journalists were due to the new policy in a tweet, writing: “Same doxxing regulations apply to ‘journalists” as to all other people.”

Donie O’Sullivan, Drew Harwell, The Washington Post’s Ryan Mac and independent journalists Aaron Rupar and Keith Olbermann were some of those who were banned by CNN.

Musk ran a Twitter poll asking his followers when they should “Unsuspend accounts that doxxed me in real-time.” The options were “Now” and “In 7 Days.” Nearly 59% of respondents to the poll voted for “Now” a day later.

He tweeted Friday evening: “The people spoke.” Accounts that have doxxed my address will see their suspension lifted immediately.

O’Sullivan’s, Rupar’s, Mac, Harwell and Webster’s accounts had been restored at the time of publication. Many of their accounts appeared to have had tweets blocked and replaced by a note that said the tweet “violated Twitter rules”. Olbermann’s account appears to be still suspended.

Rupar wrote, “I want to say thank you all for your support over the past day” after the suspension was lifted. “I was initially very upset about being suspended, but I quickly realized that it would be okay because I have an amazing online community.

Rupar said to Insider’s Erin Snodgrass that he didn’t know why he was banned, and that he doesn’t believe he shared any information about the jet tracking accounts. However, he did admit that he had tweeted something about Musk the day before he was banned.

Rupar stated that he inferred that Elon posted something criticizing him. “Maybe that’s the reason I didn’t receive any information from Twitter; they probably won’t come out with that.”

Webster also tweeted his relief after his account was restored, noting that his last tweet prior to suspension stated: “If Elon Musk lies to you about his free speech’ goals, then you’re simply in denial.”

He wrote Friday night, “Needless of saying, I was right,” “This is not what we promised. To be clear, there was no ‘doxing’ – even if an impulsive, accountable-to-nobody oligarch said so.”

Musk claimed that he used Twitter polls to make past decisions — he restored the account of former President Donald Trump after conducting a survey — but Twitter employees claim such polls are not reliable. Rolling Stone was told by Yoel Roth (ex-head of trust and safety), that polls are more susceptible to manipulation than any other type of data.

Insider reached out to Musk and Twitter for comment but they did not respond immediately.

Business Insider has the original article.
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By: kvlamis@insider.com (Kelsey Vlamis)
Title: Elon Musk reinstates journalists who were suspended from Twitter after conducting a poll about how to handle accounts that ‘doxxed’ his location
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reinstated-journalists-who-were-suspended-from-twitter-2022-12
Published Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2022 07:27:36 +0000