Musk bans Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz from Twitter blaming ‘before Doxxing’ behavior

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Topline

Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz’s Twitter account was suspended Saturday night after he tweeted to platform owner and CEO Elon Musk asking for comment on a story, a move that comes a day after Musk reinstated the accounts of several other journalists who had been controversial. suspended.

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk has shut down the Twitter accounts of journalists he deems in violation… [+] of its “doxxing” policy.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Highlights

Responding to a question about Lorenz’s suspension, Musk claimed it was a temporary action, vaguely adding that it was due to a previous doxxing action without providing details.

In a Substack post, Lorenz said she was kicked off Twitter after tweeting at Musk seeking comment on a story she and colleague Drew Harwell had been working on.

Lorenz said she received no communication from Twitter about the reason for her suspension and the terms she violated.

Harwell was one of the journalists whose account was suspended by Twitter on Thursday after Musk claimed reporters were doxxing his stance by tweeting about publicly available flight data.

crucial quote

In his post, Lorenz wrote: Twitter has served as an essential source of real-time news and played a crucial role in the world of journalism, but Musk’s arbitrary suspensions of journalists who report on him should worry anyone who values journalism and freedom of expression.

Key Context

On Thursday, Twitter suspended the accounts of several high-profile reporters from The Washington Post, VOA News, The New York Times, MSNBC and CNN after Musk ruled they violated Twitter’s new rules on sharing content. real-time location of people. Earlier in the day, the platform shut down rival social media platform account Mastodons as well as several accounts tracking the locations of private jets owned by several billionaires, including Musk himself. Among the suspended accounts was @ElonJet, whose continued existence on Twitter had previously been singled out by Musk as a symbol of his commitment to enabling free speech. After issuing the bans, Musk accused the @ElonJet account, its owner Jack Sweeney, 20, and other journalists of endangering his life and that of his family by sharing publicly available flight tracking data. The suspension of journalists’ accounts has prompted widespread backlash against Musk, with European Union officials warning that Twitter could face sanctions. Most of the journalists’ accounts were reinstated on Saturday.

Peg News

After acquiring Twitter in October, Musk initially positioned himself as a champion of free speech and promised to hand over moderation of Twitter to an independent board with a wide range of views. The billionaire, however, also seemed to act as an arbiter of what kind of content Twitter should or shouldn’t allow. Over the past month, Musk unilaterally restored the accounts of banned users, including former President Donald Trump, after conducting an unscientific Twitter poll. Musk has also used his Twitter account to target people he dislikes while stoking conspiracy theories.

Further reading

Elon Musk banned me from Twitter (Taylor Lorenz Substack)

Musk restores some journalists’ Twitter accounts after backlash (Forbes)

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