Elon Musk reinstates suspended Twitter accounts of journalists

Elon Musk on Saturday reinstated the Twitter accounts of several journalists that were suspended from the platform a day before. The move came after Musk conducted a Twitter poll where he asked people when he should lift the suspension. Out of the total 3.6 million who voted, 58.7 per cent chose “now” and 41.3 per cent chose "in seven days."

"The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," he tweeted.

The Elon Musk-owned social media platform suspended accounts of several journalists like Ryan Mac of The New York Times; Drew Harwell of The Washington Post; Aaron Rupar, an independent journalist; Donie O’Sullivan of CNN; Matt Binder of Mashable; Tony Webster, an independent journalist; Micah Lee of The Intercept; and the political journalist Keith Olbermann.

The billionaire accused the reporters of tracking and sharing private information about his whereabouts.

In response to a user's tweet on journalists accounts' getting banned, Musk said on Friday, “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

The controversy began when Musk suspended the Twitter account @elonjet that tracked the flights of his private jet. Musk argued that he made the move after a car in Los Angeles carrying one of his children was followed by "a crazy stalker", implying that the tracking of his jet was responsible for the incident.

The now-suspended journalists reported on the incident and shared a few links that @elonjet had posted before it was banned. Musk then suspended the accounts of the journalists, saying they violated Twitter's day-old policy on doxxing and privacy.

"Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info," Musk added on Thursday.

Also Read: 'They posted my...assassination coordinates': What is Elon Musk's 'doxxing rule' for Twitter?