Twitter Inc. has suspended the accounts of roughly half a dozen prominent journalists who were covering the social network’s billionaire owner Elon Musk.
Earlier on Thursday the Twitter account of many reporters from various publications including the Washington Post, the New York Times, Mashable, and CNN were listed as blocked and their tweets were not visible.
The company standard said this, “suspends accounts that violate the Twitter rules.”
According to the media reports the accounts has been suspended of Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept, political journalist Keith Olbermann, Aaron Rupar and Tony Webster, both independent journalists.
Meanwhile, New York Times reporter Ryan Mac tweeted from the new account, “I was given no warning. I have no email or communication from the company about the reason for suspension.” Mac also shared the screenshot and wrote, “I report on Twitter, Elon Musk and his companies. And I will continue to do so.”
Moreover, Deputy Director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights Paul Barrett said, “This is management as dark performance art. The one thing for which we can all thank Musk is that he’s demonstrating, day by day, how dangerous (and self-destructive) it is for so much corporate power to be concentrated in the hands of a few Silicon Valley moguls.”
However, the CNN reporter account has been also suspended in response CNN reporter said, “The impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising. Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses the platform. We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.”