News/Commentary

‘The people have spoken’: Musk reverses course on Twitter suspension of journalists

December 17, 2022 | | Print Article

Elon Musk announced the outcome of his latest Twitter poll to determine the status of suspended journalists with some added commentary: “a few days away from Twitter is good for their mental health.”

The billionaire’s efforts to improve the social media platform he spent 2022 working to acquire have left many satisfied with their overall experience on Twitter. While progressives were in an uproar over the suspension of certain accounts accused of endangering the safety of Musk and his family by allegedly sharing links to his real-time location data, as with other account restorations, the decision was left up to the people.

After nearly four million people voted in a 24-hour poll where a choice between “Now” or “In 7 days” was presented, almost 59 percent chose the former leading Musk to announce on Friday night, “The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now.”

Notable accounts restored out of those reported suspended included those of The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan and The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell. As of Saturday morning, political talking head Keith Olbermann was still suspended, though no distinction had been made to explain the disparity.

When one moderator expressed gratitude for the results following the overly “dramatic” communications he had been receiving since Thursday, Musk responded bluntly, “Quite frankly, a few days away from Twitter is good for their mental health.”

The platform owner hadn’t been silent about his feelings toward the journalists as he had briefly joined some of them for a Twitter Spaces discussion led by BuzzFeed tech reporter Katie Notopoulos Thursday.

At the time, Musk made clear “Everyone’s going to be treated the same,” and went on to state, “They’re not special just because you’re a journalist.”

In case that hadn’t been clear enough, Musk also stated, “You’re just a Twitter citizen. So no special treatment. You dox, you get suspended, end of story.”

Of course, those suspended felt very differently on that front as demonstrated by Aaron Rupar, one of those suspended for the alleged doxing. Shortly after his account was reinstated, Rupar tweeted, “I want to thank everyone for all the support and kind words over the past day and some change. I was pretty bummed about getting suspended initially but quickly realized it’d be fine because I’m blessed to have an amazing online community. Seriously, I appreciate it a lot. Cheers.”

The hypocrisy from corporate media on the suspensions had been beyond apparent and wasn’t left untouched by Musk as he reacted to some of the criticism about the coverage as well, especially when compared to the larger story at hand with the “Twitter Files.”

When Outkick’s Clay Travis wrote, “It’s fascinating to watch left wingers cover the story of @elonmusk banning them from @twitter for a day far more extensively than they’ve covered any of the revelations of big tech & big government colluding censorship on here over the past several years,” the Chief Twit offered two words in response:

“Strange priorities …”

 

Kevin Haggerty
Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles